Last Updated on 9 months ago by Charbel Coorey

Mitchell Starc displays the first look of Indigenous jersey | Australia unveil specially-designed indigenous jersey for T20I series against India

The Australian men’s team will be wearing specially-designed Indigenous shirts for the upcoming T20I series against India. Cricket Australia unveiled the design as a collaboration between manufacturer ASICS and two Indigenous women, Aunty Fiona Clarke and Courtney Hagen, to encourage the involvement of Indigenous Australians in cricket.

Clarke is a Kirrae Whurrong woman, and a direct descendent of legendary cricketer ‘Mosquito’ Couzens – one Aboriginal player who toured England in 1868. “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, features prominently in the design of the T20 shirt”, CA informed.

Australian women’s team wore their first Indigenous shirt against England earlier this year. “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. 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”, Australia’s vice-captain Rachael Haynes told cricket.com.au in September.

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc said he was excited that the men’s team, like the women’s team and Big Bash clubs before them, has a unique Indigenous shirt to wear in matches. “The women’s team have worn a similar artwork to our one, the Test team have worn the logo on our collars a few times and the WBBL teams have all got it on their guernseys this year so it’s really exciting to have the chance as a men’s team to wear our first Indigenous jersey,” he said.

Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.