Cricket Australia has commissioned a project to assign cap numbers for every player who has represented the national Indigenous male and female teams. The initiative is part of the celebrations commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 1868 tour of England by an Aboriginal team, the first ever Australian cricket side to travel abroad.
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Cap numbers are important, not just for the sake of history. Former opener Michael Slater had the number 356 tattooed onto his ankle in 2003 only to learn that he was in fact the 357th player. Brendon Julian, who debuted in the same match, was 356th when the then Australian Cricket Board ordered debuts alphabetically rather than the unofficial system of batting order. Fortunately for Slater, the ACB made an exception for what it described as "fairly exceptional circumstances" and Julian was gracious enough to swap.
It should not be too difficult for CA to trace the female team, which played its first match last year, but not so the 80 to 100 men, although they are in good hands on that front. CA is sending two teams to England next year and, although the fixture is yet to be finalised, there is plenty of interest from county teams. The Tonk is tipping they will not be as busy as the 1868 side. They played 47 matches over 99 days out of a possible 126.
Back in the game
The man helping CA with its Indigenous cap numbers is our former colleague Jesse Hogan, who has accepted a part-time voluntary role with the governing body. Among Hogan's other tasks will be working with CA's game development team on the National Cricket Inclusion Championships in January, and in planning for cricket's A Sport For All Awards. The Tonk misses seeing him on the Test circuit but it's great to hear he's back involved again.
Sponsor's product
Shaun Marsh might just have stumbled across the secret to prolonging his stop-start Test career. The 34-year-old had his eyes checked out recently by Specsavers, the company that has come on board as a sponsor of the Australian team and offered all players an appointment. As it turned out, there as a minor issue with his eyesight that came up and, as a result, Marsh was given contact lenses to wear for the first time in the second Test.
What followed was an unbeaten 126 at Adelaide Oval, a man of the match performance and arguably his finest hour for Australia. Big runs, of course, are never guaranteed - he was out edging Moeen Ali to Joe Root at slip for 28 on Saturday - but you would think seeing the ball properly should help.
Engagement ring
Anyone who has popped the question on an overseas vacation will appreciate this tale. Steve Smith's plan to propose to his fiancee hit a snag when he was almost caught out at the dreaded metal detector. The captain, you see, had the engagement ring in his top pocket and needed some quick thinking to sneak the rock into his luggage to avoid the cat being let out of the bag.
For the sake of the team
We can only imagine Australia's bowling coach David Saker would have earned himself a cheeky internal fine for being caught on television being given a massage in the team room during the first session of play at the WACA on Saturday. The pan of the Channel 9 camera was just a case of bad timing for Saker, the former Victoria bowler, but it did not go missing with others in the squad and staff, who lap up this kind of stuff as part of the fun and games behind the scenes in the team.