Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland, and Australia’s horror stat almost 150 years in the making

Brendan Doggett’s surprise call-up has put the spotlight on the representation of Indigenous Australians across 150 years of Test cricket history.

Brendan Doggett’s surprise call-up has given Australia the same number of Indigenous players in its Test squad as it has fielded in 867 Tests over the last 147 years.

It’s progress of sorts but we might just put a hold on the trumpets and fireworks folks … the number is only two.

And Scott Boland is in both groups.

Boland is in the Test squad with Doggett and he was also the second and only Indigenous male after Jason Gillespie to play a Test for Australia.

Brendan Doggett and Scott Boland talk during a training session. Picture: Getty Images

Not that there was any fanfare for Gillespie, a descendant of the Kamilaroi people who once populated northern NSW, when he played his first Test against the West Indies at the SCG in 1996.

It was not announced at the time that he was Australia’s first Indigenous cricketer because few people outside his close friends was aware of it.

For all the good work been done at the lower levels of the game and the success of the Imparja Cup for Indigenous teams around Australia there is no doubt the fact that only two of Australia’s 467 male Test cricketers are Indigenous is a jolting statistic.

Jason Gillespie, a descendant of the Kamilaroi people who once populated northern NSW, was Australia’s first indigenous Test cricketer. Picture: AP

Even more so when considering the first Australian cricketing touring party to England, in 1868, was fully Indigenous.

Things soon got immensely difficult for Indigenous cricketers after that trip with Victoria passing legislation that no Aborigines were allowed to leave the state without permission from the government.

Fast bowler Doggett has studied his Indigenous roots and is proud to be representing them.

“It comes from my mother’s side – we are part of the Worimi people (from around Newcastle),’’ he told this masthead after being chosen in the Test squad.

Brendan Doggett during an Australian Test Squad nets session at Adelaide Oval. Picture: Getty Images

“It is an honour and it is something I want to be proud of to have the opportunity to represent the Indigenous community and culture. That is something I take pride in.

“Scotty Boland has done it. D’Arcy Short (in white ball cricket), Ash Gardner and Dizzy Gillespie have all done it so there is some good role models there so it would be pretty cool to be added to that group of people.’’

Cricket Australia recently announced it third Reconciliation Action Plan outlining its goals to increase awareness of cricket’s connection with Indigenous Australians, knowing deep down the presence of a high profile Indigenous star at Test level would to more for the cause than any plan or project.

Originally published as Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland, and Australia’s horror stat almost 150 years in the making