Cricket in Australia
A record 1,311,184 people played cricket across Australia in 2015–16, an 8.5 per cent increase on 2014–15 – placing cricket at No.1 as the current top participation sport in Australia. Women participation also reached record figures in 2015–16, growing nine percent to 314,936 players. According to Cricket Australia's annual report of 2014–15, 1,208,360 Australians played formal, organised cricket during the year, an increase of nine percent over the previous year. Separately, official audience data shows that 93.6% of Australians watched at least some cricket on TV in 2010–11 calendar year.
Australia–England sports rivalries
Many sports analysts consider a Test cricket competition (referred to as The Ashes) to be the most intense form of all sporting rivalries involving the two nations. The competition is officially contested between Australia and England but the three nations of England, Scotland and Wales competed under the English flag up until 1992 when the Scots began to compete independently. Welsh cricket players continue to compete for England with Simon Jones being a recent example of a Welsh player competing for England in the 2005 Ashes series. The first Ashes series was contested in 1884.