Australia men's team to wear Indigenous shirt for T20Is against India

Mitchell Starc in the Indigenous shirt Australia will wear against India
November 11, 2020

The Australia men's team will wear an Indigenous shirt for the T20I series against India next month.

The shirt continues the storytelling of the first ever Australia team to tour overseas when in 1868 a group of Aboriginal cricketers played 47 matches in the UK having made a three-month journey.

Kirrae Whurrong woman Aunty Fiona Clarke, great great-grand daughter of Grongarrong (Mosquito), who was one of the members of the team that played in England in 1868, designed the original Walkabout Wickets artwork that will feature on the front of the playing shirt.

The artwork represents past, present and future Aboriginal cricketers, with the large circle representing Lord's and the smaller circles signify the team's various meeting places during that tour.

The shirt was co-designed by Courtney Hagen, Butchulla and Gubbi Gubbi woman and Cricket Australia's Indigenous Engagement Specialist

"Through the design, we wanted to create something that paid tribute to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cricketers - past, present and future," Hagen said. "We've incorporated artwork that symbolises strength, guidance and support through a connection to our ancestors, represented through the stars and the resilience of the 1868 team represented strongly. It was an honour to be able to co-design this shirt with Aunty Fiona."

Australia's women's team wore a shirt with similar artwork earlier this year, while the Walkabout Wickets logo has been a feature on Test shirts and Indigenous shirts have featured in the WBBL and BBL.

This week's matches in the WBBL and Sheffield Shield are taking part during NAIDOC week and teams have been taking Barefoot Circles before games.Ashleigh Gardner, one of five Indigenous players in the WBBL, has also designed artwork for players' footwear in that competition.

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