Jason Gillespie and Faith Thomas excited by plans to remember Aboriginal tour of England

AS cricket fever grips Adelaide, indigenous former Test stars Jason Gillespie and Faith Thomas have told of their excitement at plans to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the landmark 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England.

Test players Jason Gillespie and Faith Thomas - excited by celebrations to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England. Picture: Sarah Reed

AS cricket fever grips Adelaide, indigenous former Test players Jason Gillespie and Faith Thomas yesterday spoke of their excitement at plans to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the landmark 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England.

Cricket Australia will honour the 1868 tour and the Aboriginal VI who played in the 1866 Boxing Day match.

Thomas, the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia in any sport, recalls having “pretty handy yorkers” in her repertoire and says she “can’t wait” to be at the MCG this Boxing Day for the start of the two-year commemoration.

Gillespie said the early indigenous players “are pioneers of our sport and deserve to be celebrated”. “I think we all reflect back and think about the ... challenges these guys faced and I am sure they just cracked on, got on with the business.”

Test great Gillespie says the next wave of indigenous talent is coming in Australia.

“Participation rates are increasing and there were five lads of indigenous heritage in the Matador Cup,” said Gillespie, referring to Darcy Short, Dan Christian, Josh Lalor, Ryan Lees and Brendan Doggett.

“Cricket Australia has some good initiatives and hopefully that filters through and more lads play at the professional levels. That would be pretty exciting.”

Ash Gardener and Hayley Hoffmeister are already fixtures on the women’s cricket scene, following in the footsteps of trailblazing former Test fast bowler Thomas.