Christian, Gardner to lead squads in commemorative tour of England
Dan Christian and Ashleigh Gardner, the Australia all-rounders, will lead the men's and women's Aboriginal XI squads to England in June in a tour to mark the 150th anniversary of the Indigenous Australians' visit to the United Kingdom in 1868.
The two teams will play a combined total of nine games against Surrey, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with some of the matches set to be staged on the same grounds that hosted matches 150 years ago.
The 13-member men's squad, featuring the likes of Scott Boland and D'Arcy Short, will open the campaign against MCC at Arundel Castle.
A double-header on June 7 at The Oval is the highlight of the tournament.
Gardner, the off-spinner who has played 15 one-day internationals and 11 Twenty20 Internationals, will lead a young women's side with an average age of 20. "Being able to represent my culture is really special and all the girls are really excited to do that too,” she said. “They all understand this is a big moment in their careers and for me to be able to captain a team that is inexperienced in terms of international tours but one that is ready for that competition is a big moment in my career as well.”
The 1868 side became the first Australian team across sporting disciplines to tour internationally when they travelled to England and played 47 matches in six months. In tribute to the trailblazers, each member of the men's team has been linked to a player from the 1868 squad and will bear the name of that player on the back of their shirts.
Boland, who has so far turned out for Australia in 17 limited-overs matches, said he was excited to know more about the past. “I look forward to learning more about Indigenous culture and more about what happened during the 1868 tour," he said.
“Going over there with my brother (fast bowler Nick Boland) will be great as we can learn a lot together about the story from some of the older guys and some of the coaches as well.”
Squads Men: Dan Christian (c), Nick Boland, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett, Sam Doggett, Damon Egan, Tyran Liddiard, Jonte Pattison, Nathan Price, D’arcy Short, Brendan Smith, Rex Strickland, Dane Ugle
Coach: Jeffrey Cook
Women: Ashleigh Gardner (c), Jemma Astley, Dharmini Chauhan, Christina Coulson, Hannah Darlington, Sara Darney, Zoe Fleming, Haylee Hoffmeister, Emma Manix-Geeves, Sally Moylan, Natalie Plane, Roxanne Van Veen, Naomi Woods. Coach: Shelley Nitschke