Australian players to wear Indigenous shirt for first time in T20 series against India
CA unveiled the design for the Australian men's cricket team who will follow the lead of the national women's side wear an Indigenous shirt for their T20 series against India. The initiative is a collaboration between ASICS and two Indigenous women, Aunty Fiona Clarke and Courtney Hagen.
Australian players will wear a specially-designed New Jersey, celebrating the Indigenous people and Australia's ethnic diversity thanks to a collaboration between manufacturer ASICS and two Indigenous women, Aunty Fiona Clarke and Courtney Hagen. Both Clarke and Hagen are central to the sport's recent efforts to recognise and encourage the involvement of Indigenous Australians in cricket.
As a matter of fact, Clarke is a direct descendent of 'Mosquito' Couzens, who toured England in 1868 as part of the first sporting team from Australia to play abroad. Clarke's artwork Walkabout Wickets, which was unveiled in 2016 and featured on the collars of the Aussie Test shirts during last year’s Ashes, finds place in the design of the T20 shirt.
Before the men’s team, the Aussie women's side first took the initiative by wearing an Indigenous shirt of their own in a match against England earlier this year and also participated in a barefoot circle before the England game and again against New Zealand last month to address the issues of race in cricket.
"Last year as a squad we started to think about how we wanted to represent (Indigenous culture) and to participate in one of the first Indigenous rounds in cricket from an international perspective (in January) was really special," Australia's vice-captain Rachael Haynes told cricket.com.au in September.
"We want to continue those themes but we also want to have more purpose around what we do. So it's not one offs, we want to do things throughout the year and make it a learning experience."