(Sydney Thunder’s Hannah Darlington, Sixers' Ash Gardner, Parramatta’s Saira Jabeen and Thunder’s Anika Learoyd with Cricket Blast players Imogen Taylor, Emily Amparo and Elise Waters ahead of the combined First Nations round in Season 2023/24. Picture: Phil Hillyard)
The cricket community across NSW, including Sydney Thunder’s WBBL team, Premier Cricket and community cricket clubs and their players will come together in November to participate in the annual First Nations Round.
Taking place during the third week and weekend of November 2024, the week will be full of announcements and activities to demonstrate Cricket NSW’s commitment to reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.
Players and umpires from every club and team in the state are invited to form a pre-match barefoot circle and organise a Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country to connect with the Traditional Owners of the land during the weekend of November 24 and 25. In previous years, clubs have posted their activities of the First Nations Rounds on their socials and tagged Cricket NSW, and we encourage them to do the same this year.
Clubs and associations can undertake a host of activities to support and observe the Round, the resources of which can be found in the First Nations Round Information Pack.
For Cricket NSW, reconciliation is an ongoing action and an everyday commitment at every level of the game. Throughout the year and even at the start of the current 2024/25 season, Cricket NSW has held multiple cricket clinics and programs in city and country NSW with a focus on bringing cricket to Indigenous children and players. Last August, two programs focussed on bringing cricket to First Nations boys and girls at Casino and Coraki in the state’s Far North were huge successes, the two programs combining for over 200 participants.
WBBL club Sydney Thunder will play their First Nations Round match on November 20 at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney. The Thunder players will be playing the match in their First Nations kit, designed by Indigenous artist Rhe Lotter. Players will form a barefoot circle and a smoking ceremony and a Welcome to Country will be conducted ahead of the match, along with an Indigenous dance and didgeridoo performance.
Cricket NSW’s second Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), updated and improved from the first edition that was launched a few years ago, is in its final stages of review by Reconciliation Australia and will also likely be announced that week.
Earlier this year in May, Cricket NSW observed National Reconciliation Week by honouring the memory of a cricketer generally regarded as Australia’s first Aboriginal First Class player, Twopenny (also known as Murrumgunarrimin), with a plaque dedicated to the member of the 1868 Aboriginal cricket team that toured England and the first Aboriginal cricketer to represent NSW in 1870, which was mounted on the picket fence at Cricket Central.
A number of premier and junior cricket clubs across NSW have First Nations uniforms designed specifically for the clubs and depicting what the clubs stand for. In 2022, the West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club (WPHCCC) launched their cricket season by unveiling their new indigenous female cricket uniform, unveiled by NSW Breakers and Sydney Thunder player Anika Learoyd and created by John Rennie and Miles Lalor - the latter of Indigenous origin – to represent its club colours (red, white, blue and green), the players, the many locations they practice, play and meet.
The Parramatta Women’s Grade Cricket Club (PWGCC) also has a beautiful blue jersey that represent the Dharug people, the traditional custodians of the Eora Region on which the club stands. Parramatta has one of the oldest clubs in Australia and PWGCC thought it important to incorporate the Indigenous design on their playing and training shirts that they wear all season.
Similarly, Premier club Randwick Petersham expanded the scope of its First Nations uniform to make it one of their regular playing polos for last season. Charlotte Ryan, who designed the uniform, explained the thought behind the green unform with a blue circles pattern that represent the Dharawal people of the La Perouse area: “The circles signify the gathering of people, a meeting place, a place to share and exchange stories. The gathering of players and fans from both communities coming together as one.”
All around NSW, the First Nations Round is expected to be the culmination of the year-round activities that cricket clubs and associations undertake throughout the year to respect the land and the First Nations Peoples.