Scott Boland was beaming as he stood in the middle of the MCG last week, the Victorian standing proudly in front of the nation’s most talented Indigenous youth cricketers.

It was hard not to imagine this might be an image a sculptor would use if ever be called on to turn into the reality the call following his phenomenal Boxing Day debut back in 2021. Build the man a statue indeed!

Should the veteran excel throughout this summer’s Ashes against England, with the 36-year-old certain to feature in the opening Test in Perth on November 21 if fit, the roar is likely to become deafening around Melbourne.

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But one suspects that Boland would far prefer to be sitting in the stands of the MCG in decades to come watching his legacy play out live instead of it being bronzed into immortality outside the famous ground.

It is why the champion bowler and Jason Gillespie, the only other Aboriginal man to play Test cricket for Australia, were at the MCG last week as part of a training camp for the nation’s most promising Indigenous cricketers.

While Brendan Doggett appeals as the next Indigenous cricketer to play Test cricket, perhaps as soon as this summer, it is hoped the dozens of youth who spoke to Boland as part of the experience will contend for the “Baggy Green” in years to come.

“That’s what we’re all here for. We’re all here to play cricket. We are all here because we love cricket,” Boland said.

“This is part of the pathway to come through that will hopefully produce more indigenous cricketers playing for Australia.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 21: Members of the CA Indigenous Cricket Program watch on as Scott Boland of Australia speaks to the mediaSource: Getty Images

THE BOLAND BRILLIANCE THAT SET ALIGHT THE MCG … AND RAISED AN AWKWARD QUESTION

It is perplexing that in a country where Indigenous athletes have delivered some of Australia’s most memorable sporting moments, so few have come in the national pastime.

Cathy Freeman’s magical moment in the 2000 Olympic Games will live long in history. Ash Barty followed the footsteps of her icon Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon back in 2021 and then claimed the Australian Open a year later.

There are dozens of Indigenous footballers who have lit up the MCG and other celebrated grounds around the country, with the scene at the SCG after Lance Franklin kicked his 1000th goal an inspiring memory for so many.

Despite Australia’s first team to tour England comprising 13 First Nations men from Victoria’s western districts in 1868, only a few Indigenous cricketers have played at international level.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 21: Members of the CA Indigenous Cricket Program pose with CA Chief of Cricket James Allsopp, Scott Boland of Australia and MCC Foundation Chair Christian JohnstonSource: Getty Images

But with Boland setting the MCG alight on debut in the Ashes in 2021, and Ash Gardner scoring a superb century against England in the T20 World Cup just a week ago, it begs to question as to why similar deeds have not been produced for decades by Indigenous cricketers.

A report commissioned by Cricket Australia in conjunction with the Australian National University in Canberra a decade ago titled For The Love of the Game highlighted racism, inclusion and opportunity as reasons for a dearth of top-tier talent.

Anecdotes make for uncomfortable reading. A team fine system issued on a weekly basis for missed stumpings and spilled catches also saw one member sanctioned simply for being Aboriginal. And that is just one instance.

“Across all levels of the game, there was consensus that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not being included enough or were actually being excluded,” a passage from the report reads.

“The pervasive feeling that Indigenous cricket was just an ‘add-on’ or was not something really important was conveyed to us at all levels of the game, from young Indigenous players through to cricket administrators and by those in charge of administering Indigenous cricket throughout the states and territories.”

RAISING THE STANDARDS

Cricket Australia wants young Aboriginal men bowling bouncers in Barunga, ripping googlies in Gunbalanya, cracking cover drives in Daly River and ramping, yep, ramping the quicks in Renner Springs.

There has been a concerted effort over the past decade to boost funding to community areas, to recognise the nation’s Indigenous heritage through designs on uniforms or, as per Dan Christian, in bat artwork.

The Johnny Mullagh Medal, named after the captain of the first Indigenous side to travel to England in 1868, is now awarded to the player of the match after each Boxing Day Test and was claimed by Boland in 2021 for his heroics of debut in the Ashes.

CA is hopeful of greater Indigenous representation at all levels of the sport and James Allsop, CA’s chief of cricket, said the national body is working hard to bolster numbers in the future.

“I’s a good question (as to why we don’t have more Indigenous cricketers). I think traditionally, a lot of Indigenous athletes have found a pathway through the football codes,” he told foxsports.com.au.

“I think there’s been some exceptional Indigenous cricketers who have gone on to play at the highest level, but our participation proportion of the population isn’t as strong as the AFL, for example, but I think we’re making some inroads in that area at the moment.”

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As part of its bid to develop more Indigenous cricketers capable of excelling at international level, CA will invite a couple of the 23-and-under talent who were at the MCG last week for the MCC training camp to participate in high performance programs.

The squads featured representatives from the National Indigenous Cricket Championships and Indigenous XI, state premier players and other talents working up through the ranks in their respective states.

On the morning of the camp, Queensland Cricket withdrew one of their representatives in order to make them available to play for the Brisbane Heat in the T20 Spring Challenge.

Allsop noted the current crop of Aboriginal stars were superb role models for the aspiring talents who participated in the MCG camp.

“You have got Scott. You have got Hannah Darlington. You’ve got Ash Gardner. They’re incredible role models … but I do feel like a partnership like this will be a big factor in how we can get more Indigenous cricketers coming through the pathway,” Allsop said.

“One of the other parts of the evolution of the program is the two best cricketers from this camp and the Indigenous Championships will be selected to train and play with our national programs. That connection into our high performance system is really, really important. And I feel like where we’re going to take this program, we’ll be able to deliver on that, and we’ll see more Indigenous cricketers come through the pathway and hopefully we see more Scott Bolands and Ash Gardners represent our country in the future.”

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TALKING THE TALK AND WALKING THE WALK

As an emerging cricketer, Gardner said she would have stressed out at the prospect of being a role model for the nation’s next generation of Indigenous talent.

But as one of the nation’s best-performed cricketers, the dual-Belinda Clark Award Winner said she now wants to be known for more than just her deeds with the bat and ball in hand as she seeks to help Australia win another World Cup.

“I think if you asked me ten years ago, I would have said it was quite daunting but I think I think it is an amazing opportunity to be someone that people can look up to and, I guess, be a role model,” Gardner told foxsports.com.au in September.

“Obviously I have a couple different hats that I can wear when I am out on the field and I want to be that inspiration for young First Nations kids who want to aspire to play cricket for Australia, or whatever that is. I want to show them there are no real boundaries or limitations to reaching the highest point.

“Yes, Ashleigh Gardner the cricketer is where I got my platform, but certainly once I finish playing, I want my legacy to be far more than just me as a cricketer.”

The star all-rounder, who shapes as a pivotal performer in the finals of the T20 World Cup in India over the next week, has taken a leading role within the national women’s side to broaden their education regarding the Indigenous way of life.

“Our team this year, we got to go up to the NT and look at the world from a different lens and see and hear stories about how different people live and that was fantastic from a cultural touch point for this group,” she said.

“I’ve been a massive advocate of this group, wanting to educate them and be a voice for the group, but for them to actually get the first hand experience from those people was really special.”

INDORE, INDIA – OCTOBER 25: Ash Gardner of Australia celebrates with team mate Phoebe Litchfield after taking the wicket of Ayabonga Khaka of South Africa (not pictured) during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.Source: Getty Images

DARLINGTON DELIVERING ON AND OFF THE FIELD

Gardner has already had a significant impact on Hannah Darlington, who is the youngest ever skipper of the Sydney Thunder and an all-rounder of considerable promise.

The 23-year-old featured at international level as a teenager and was presented her Australian cap by the older all-rounder who she has looked up to for years.

“Ash has done an amazing job in the Indigenous space and we have spoken about it,” she said.

“She presented my Australian cap to me, things like that, and it would be awesome to have moments like that again in the future. It is something that I am really proud of.”

Despite her youth, Darlington has been actively involved in trying to spread the love of cricket to Indigenous kids and said it is not just about finding stars for the top level.

“I did a bit of coaching recently with the Australian Indigenous team and that was an eye-opening experience, not only in the coaching space, but also in terms of the role I can play,” she said at the WBBL launch in Melbourne earlier in October.

“It is probably not looking for the next Australian Indigenous cricketer, more just making sure that we are flooding community cricket and domestic cricket with these talented people who may not get the opportunity otherwise.

“That is something I want to have a real focus on over the next couple of years, just being someone that people can go to to help create those opportunities.”

Similarly to the goals of AFL training academies in the northern states, which aim to foster elite talent but also broaden the pool of expertise so that those who do not make it to the top league are able to pass on high performance protocols at lower levels, Allsop said the experience the young Indigenous cricketers received at the MCG last week is invaluable.

“Absolutely. I mean, talking to some of the players who have been here the last two years, and there’s a couple who are here for the first time at the MCG, and they were just saying that ‘I can’t believe I’m standing on the MCG. I can’t wait to tell my stories when I go back to my people,’” he said

“So absolutely we want some of these players to progress and feature in our high performance system but if they don’t, we want them to go back with an amazing cricket experience they can tell their friends and cricket club members all about to continue to inspire more people to love the game and pursue a career in the game.

“It’s not just about developing the next generation of Indigenous cricketers to play for our country. It’s about Indigenous cricketers being great ambassadors for other Indigenous cricketers back in the community who haven’t yet had the opportunity to come and play and train on the home of cricket.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 09: Hannah Darlington of the ThunderSource: Getty Images

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRAILBLAZERS

The MCC and Cricket Australia partnership for last week’s Indigenous training camp is one step, so too the initiative to select a couple of talents for further high-performance training.

Initiatives can be as simple as making sure a young kid gets to hold a bat or ball, Allsop said, pointing to a program instituted in the Northern Territory last year as an example that has significantly boosted participation 12 months on.

“I know that there’s been a huge investment from NT Cricket into making sure that participation in Indigenous communities is a priority,” he said.

“They started 12 months ago by really trying to raise awareness and get people just thinking about cricket, touching cricket bats, experiencing cricket in their promotion programs, in schools. And the cool thing is that this year, it’s translated into young people saying, ‘I want to play cricket.’”

Boland, who had the opportunity to travel to England as part of an Indigenous side before Covid, said he would love to see a return of initiatives like that and others including an all-Indigenous team that plays against various Sheffield Shield sides.

“I think this (training camp) is a great stepping stone and I think going forward, if we can sort of bring back what we had five or six years ago, where there’d be a week where the Indigenous teams would fly out to Brisbane,” he said.

“We’d play against some state teams and some practice games for state teams, but (they were) really important games for our team and you only get better from playing against really good quality opposition. And then for guys who are guys and girls who are playing premier cricket or club cricket, to play against some of the best cricketers in the country, it’s the best way to learn.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 21: Scott Boland of Australia poses with Jackson Gillespie and Jason Gillespie.Source: Getty Images

Darlington believes the WBBL, which will be played next month, could be an ideal vehicle to further the development of younger Aboriginal players who are not based in major cities.

“I feel like I’d love to see an Indigenous rookie in the WBBL,” she said.

“Imagine a kid from the community coming in and spending time with the best of the best for a couple of games and getting an insight so that we don’t lose them all to AFL, or whatnot.

“There are some really talented people out there that just need an opportunity, so I would love to get out into the community a little bit more and find the next generation of stars.”

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The role models currently excelling do have an important role to play as well, Allsop said, in showing Indigenous youth there is a pathway to the top of a true international sport.

“Scottie is going to spend some time with these players. I know Ash would if she wasn’t in India at the moment. She would love to be here because she’s so passionate about this space,” he said.

“I mean, Ash, even with our women’s program, she’s so big on education and ensuring all our players and support staff have got a real appreciation and understanding of cultural backgrounds and storytelling and the importance of land and she’s been just such a driver of that off the back of her own back. Hannah is the same.

“It’s just leveraging those players to make sure that there’s a deep connection back to where they came from so they can sort of inspire the next generation (and let them know) that there is a pathway for me if I’m good enough and perform well enough, that as an Indigenous person, I can play the highest level of our sport.”