If you have been watching the Ashes action closely enough, you would have seen an orange drawing on the collar of Australian jerseys, and this applies to both the men's and women's team.
The orange symbol is actually a native artwork called "Walkabout Wickets". The symbol, according to Cricket Australia, is a commitment to reconciliation with the ‘Indigenous’ group (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders) and represents the past, present and future of such cricketers.
The symbol close-up looks like a big orange circle and a few smaller circles with three lines in between.
Image courtesy: Twitter / @CricketAusThe large circle represents Lord's, a famous ground that the 1868 Australian Aboriginal team visited. The smaller circles point to the various meeting places of the team. The lines represent three wickets with no bails, a symbolic way to state that the game always moves on. The flying stumps represent the Aboriginal team beating the English in a game they invented.
The sketch was drawn by artist Fiona Clarke ahead of the 2016 Boxing Day Test to commemorate the match from 150 years ago. It's the inclusiveness of this Aboriginal group, whose representation in Australia is fast growing that makes this move a considerate one.
Indigenous cricketers have long been absent from Australian cricket and have forever been under-represented. The number of native Australians to have played at the highest level are Jason Gillespie, Scott Boland, D’Arcy Short, Dan Christian and women's cricketers, Faith Thomas and Ashleigh Gardner.
However, only two of them - Gillespie and Faith Thomas - have won the baggy green and played Test cricket for Australia.
Featured Image Courtesy: Twitter / @CricketAus
