Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland says cricket will become the No.1 sport in Canberra after signing a memorandum of understanding with Cricket ACT and Cricket NSW.
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The agreement was officially signed at the Sydney Test match in January, closely aligning the goals of the three organisations.
The partnership focuses on game development, investing in talent pathways and increasing the amount of elite games to be played at Manuka Oval.
Cricket presently has the second highest participation rate in Canberra behind soccer, but its popularity has been boosted in the ACT by the Australian team playing one-day internationals in 2013 and 2014.
Canberra will also host three games of the cricket World Cup, starting with Bangladesh against Afghanistan on February 18.
Sutherland said that combining the resources of Country Cricket NSW, Cricket NSW and Cricket ACT would help cement cricket as the premier sport in the ACT.
"Although cricket has grown throughout the ACT in recent years, we are confident that a closer working relationship between Cricket NSW and Cricket ACT will really enhance our efforts to establish cricket as the region's favourite sport," Sutherland said.
"This is a significant step for cricket in the ACT, southern and western New South Wales, which we believe will create greater opportunities for cricketers in the region."
Some of the changes have already been implemented in the past 12 months.
The ACT and NSW country have fielded combined teams at junior level at national championships from under-12s to under-19s.
The ACT Comets have also included players in their Futures League team from the Sydney grade competition who have backgrounds in the ACT or NSW country.
Cricket ACT chairman Ian McNamee said the memorandum of understanding is the first step towards Canberra's most promising cricketers not having to leave the city to further their careers.
"There are a lot of young cricketers coming to Canberra already and they're throughout the clubs," McNamee said.
"At the moment, all of these players over the years have left Canberra because they have to.
"Our aspirations are [to] have teams so they don't have to leave Canberra.
"This is part of the steps going forward.
"The process has been going for 12 months now and the agreement has been shown to be working."
Cricket NSW chief executive Andrew Jones said the new partnership made sure that the best players get the opportunities to be seen at a higher level.
"That's what we owe them as a sport and it will strengthen the ACT/NSW country teams at the national championships," Jones said.
"The discussions were very constructive and the ACT was already drawing on southern NSW for its team.
"There were a few questions asked by the ACT clubs, but the reality is if the players are good enough, they'll get the opportunity."
