Scott Boland could be asked to play Test cricket on January 26 this summer. The Indigenous paceman chats to DANIEL CHERNY about the date and Ash Gardner‘s critique of Cricket Australia’s scheduling.
Boland, just Australia’s second-ever Indigenous male Test cricketer, says he will play for the national side if selected to take on the West Indies in a Test next summer at the Gabba, a match in which day two falls on Australia Day.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, fellow Indigenous cricketer and Australian women’s team star Ash Gardner this week reaffirmed her view that it was inappropriate for the national team to be playing on Australia Day, which is an extremely painful day for some First Nations people given its invasionist roots.
Speaking on Tuesday in Brisbane at a national team training camp, Boland said he supported Gardner’s stance but was ultimately comfortable playing on January 26.
“I fully support Ash’s comments. I don’t think Jan 26 is the day to celebrate. It’s not really a fully inclusive day where everyone can celebrate Australia,” Boland told CODE Sports.
“We live in such a great country that I think it should be a date where everyone in the country can celebrate it, no matter what background you’re from.
“I don’t think it’s the right day to celebrate, but I’ll still be playing on that day if selected.”
Gardner, having earlier criticised Cricket Australia’s decision to schedule the women’s team in a game against Pakistan on Australia Day this year, was unhappy that the men had been put in a similar spot.
“I said my opinion (this year) and I told the people that it mattered to. For this to happen again but just to the men’s side … I guess there’s certainly disappointment around it,” Gardner said.
“There’s still someone like Scott Boland in and around that Test team who is of that cultural background. Not that it matters that an Aboriginal person is in those teams – it’s the history of this country.
“I just don’t understand why this one day of the year – which is a day of mourning, which doesn’t have a very good history of what happened on that day, that there needs to be cricket.”
Boland said he didn’t see a “need” for cricket on Australia Day. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
“I see sport as a celebration and entertainment and an event you want to go to. Why does there need to be something that represents something that’s quite morbid.
“It’s probably not overly appropriate.”
CA cricket operations chief Peter Roach said on Monday that CA had consulted with its Indigenous advisory group around the scheduling of the Test, but that ultimately there were many considerations at play.
“What we do know is we have a really tight schedule where we need to fit lots of games and we make those decisions with all those factors taken into account and try and make it work for us,” Roach said.
“We consult widely on this, whether we should play games on the 26th of January, and through our own internal group called NATSICAC, we ask their opinion and seek their feedback and think all things considered starting on the 26th of January was an appropriate time.
“My job is balancing lots of things, lots of stakeholders, lots of different groups and lots of opinions. We try and find the best outcome for Australian cricket.”