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Cricket Australia will put emphasis on bringing young children back to the sport to ensure a generation is not lost through COVID-19 lockdowns.

Cricket Australia will put a focus on returning children to their introductory Blast programs to ensure a generation is not lost to the sport due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CA's official census numbers for the 2021-22 season were released on Wednesday, with registered club players up two per cent on the pre-COVID 2019-20 season to 337,060.

Junior club numbers increased by six per cent on pre-COVID times, but overall participation is down due to a 40 per cent drop in indoor cricket numbers during the 2021 lockdowns.

But the biggest issue for officials is their Cricket Blast program, with 15,000 less participants last summer amid lockdowns, COVID surges and then wet weather early in 2022.

"This is a big part of our new strategy, how we overturn this really quickly," general manager of community cricket James Allsopp said.

"We have lost a year of new kids coming in. You lose two years and you risk losing a generation. We certainly won't let that be the case."

Allsopp's point is made by the fact that 90 per cent of all cricketers begin playing the sport before age 12, while 70 per cent have taken it up before age nine.

"That is why the five to 12-year-old cohort is an absolute priority for us," he said.

"Because we know if we don't capture them and develop a love of the game before 12, we're probably not going to get them committed to the game for the rest of their lives."