Indigenous cricketer Ashleigh Gardner has criticised the decision to hold a women’s international match in Hobart on January 26.
Teammates rallying around the player after she took to Twitter to express her concern surrounding the date.
🖤💛❤️ pic.twitter.com/xcXRciCFqU
— Ashleigh Gardner (@akgardner97) January 21, 2023
Cricket Australia has said that it supports Gardner’s stance, and that the day will be used as a chance to educate.
The Australian team will perform a smoking ceremony before the match and take a special walk around kunanyi/Mt Wellington to learn about the local community.
They will also wear a kit designed by two Indigenous women.
A statement from Cricket Australia said that it “acknowledges 26 January is a day that has multiple meanings and evokes mixed feelings in communities across our richly diverse nation. We respectfully acknowledge it is a challenging day for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and for some people the day is regarded as a day of mourning.”
The T20i Australia v Pakistan match is at Blundstone Arena at 7:05pm on Thursday.
