Womens ODI
To mark the Australian Women’s Cricket team’s Indigenous themed Twenty20 International against England in January 2020, Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes and Megan Schutt represented Indigenous female youth on their Kookaburra cricket bats.
Young students from the Stars Foundation female indigenous education programs around Australia were invited by Kookaburra to submit their artwork to adorn the bats of the Australian superstars in this special match, inspired by Dan Christian’s challenge to Clontarf Academies for the recent Melbourne Renegades Indigenous BBL match.
The Stars Foundation’s programs support Indigenous young women to develop the self-esteem, confidence and life skills they need to successfully participate in school, complete Year 12, and transition into a positive future.
The winner was ten-year-old Luneta Bindoraho, whose striking design will be seen by the world on television broadcasts of the match.
Luneta produced the design while participating in the Stars program at Moulden Park Primary School in Darwin.
Team Kooka players Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes and Megan Schutt were excited to use the bat on what was a first for the Australian women’s team.
“The concept of the Indigenous themed game is something I am very excited to be part of, so the opportunity to support the Stars Foundation and represent the artwork of young Indigenous girls is something I am thrilled to support,” Healy said.
Rachael Haynes was impressed by the artwork of such a young student.
“Luneta’s design looks wonderful, and looks even better on our bats.” Haynes said.
The Stars Foundation is a proud partner of Cricket Australia’s Indigenous cricket programs.
Indigenous Language Balls
During the opening week of the BBL in late 2019, the traditional Kookaburra ball took a break to be replaced by the ‘Thipe Artherrentye-Akngerre’ and ‘Ngungana’ ball.
While the ball itself was the same Kookaburra Turf ball, the name printed on the ball was changed to the local Indigenous language word for ‘Kookaburra’. This was our way to pay respect to the Indigenous cultures of the lands on which the BBL season is played.
Indigenous themed matches kick off on December 20 with the Hobart Hurricanes taking on the Sydney Sixers at Traegar Park in Alice Springs where the ball will be renamed the ‘Thipe Artherrentye-Akngerre’ as the native Kookaburra is known by the Arrente people of Alice Springs.
When the BBL is played in Adelaide, ‘the Kooka’ became ‘the Ngungana’ (pronounced nunhg-in-ah), the word for the bird of the Kaurna people.
Dan Christian Custom Bat
Australian Men’s Indigenous team captain, Melbourne Renegades star and Kookaburra ambassador Dan Christian used his custom designed Kookaburra bat with Indigenous artwork by Emma MacNeill throughout the BBL season.
“The chance for us to celebrate Indigenous culture through the BBL and promote cricket to Australia’s first people is something I’ve been wanting to see for a long time,” Christian said.
“It’s great that Kookaburra is on-board with my bat and the renaming of balls in traditional local language, but I’m thrilled to see BBL clubs take the chance to celebrate by theming matches around it.”
Playing with the Melbourne Renegades in their Indigenous-themed game on January 21, Dan Christian stated the match was “one of the highlights of my career”.