Fresh Indigenous kit unveiled for summer ODIs

Australia's men's and women's teams will both wear a striking new Indigenous-themed kit this summer as the sport continues its efforts to better recognise and encourage the involvement of Indigenous Australians in cricket.

The new design, to be worn by the Australian teams in home one-day internationals, is similar to one worn last summer by the men's team, in black for T20s against India.

The design, which is also available for purchase as an authentic replica kit, will be worn by Meg Lanning's team in their three ODIs against England in February that form part of the multi-format CommBank Women's Ashes.

Purchase a replica of the Indigenous kit via the Official Cricket Shop

The men, however, will wear the Indigenous kit in just one of their three home ODIs this summer, the first Dettol ODI against New Zealand in Perth on January 30.

They will revert to a plain gold one-day kit for the subsequent ODIs in Hobart and Sydney in early February.

The men will again wear the Indigenous kit for their ODIs in Pakistan next March and April, which will be the first time they have worn an Indigenous kit abroad, on what will be Australia's first visit to Pakistan for 24 years,

The kit design may also return in future ODI series in the 2022-23 home summer.

The design is again a collaboration between manufacturer ASICS and two Indigenous women, Aunty Fiona Clarke and Courtney Hagen.

The pair have been integral to the sport's efforts to engage with the Indigenous community, although Hagen recently moved on from her post as CA's Indigenous Engagement Specialist.

Clarke, a Kirrae Whurrong woman, is a direct descendent of legendary cricketer 'Mosquito' Couzens (known as Grongarrong), one of the Aboriginal players who toured England in 1868 as part of the first sporting team from Australia to play abroad.

Clarke's Walkabout Wickets artwork features prominently in the design of the new ODI kit.

That artwork was unveiled in 2016 and featured on the collars of the Aussie men's Test shirts during the 2019 Ashes and again in last summer's Border-Gavaskar series against India.

It will again feature on the collars of the men's and women's Test whites in their respective Ashes series this summer.

Australia's women's side were the first to wear an Indigenous themed shirt in a match against England in 2019 and have been proactive in addressing issues of race in their sport.

Despite the pioneering efforts of the 1868 team, who made a perilous journey by ship to the UK and played 47 matches at venues like Lord's and The Oval, only four Indigenous men and two Indigenous women have played Test cricket for Australia since the first Test in 1877.

The fresh Indigenous kit comes in a summer when both the Weber WBBL and KFC BBL will hold First Nations rounds for the first time as part of the League's commitment to education and connection with Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.

The WBBL concluded its First Nations round last weekend, which included the annual Faith Thomas Trophy match between the Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers.

The BBL round will be held from January 8-14 at venues around Australia.

While Australia will wear the gold Indigenous kit for one-dayers, both men's and women's teams will again wear a predominantly black T20 kit this season.

This summer's T20 kit – which has already been seen on the Australian women's team in their series against India at the start of the home season – was designed by Western Australian cricket fan and graphic designer Kai Jaeger, who won a 'design the kit' competition in early 2020.

Australia's men's team were required to wear a clash strip for the first time at an ICC tournament at the recent T20 World Cup in the UAE.

The gold kit worn when they lifted their first T20 World Cup trophy was actually Australia's alternate strip for the tournament, a recycled version of the kit worn during the 2019 ODI World Cup in England.

Australia's main black, gold and green kit, which mirrored the strip worn by Meg Lanning's team that won the women's T20 World Cup in March last year, was the team's primary kit.

But an ICC directive saw Australia switch to their clash strip for the final, while New Zealand – who had a teal clash strip available – wore their primary black kit.