SYDNEY (Australia): The best player in the Boxing Day Test will be awarded the Johnny Mullagh Medal in tribute to one of the country’s finest cricketing pioneers.
As Cricket Australia (CA), via its 2019 Reconciliation Action Plan, continues to implement ways to not only improve the sport’s relationship with the country’s Indigenous population but to also recognise the feats of Indigenous players from eras past, the introduction of such a prestigious prize has been praised by current Sydney Sixers allrounder Dan Christian.
Together with Australia women’s star Ashleigh Gardner, Christian led an Indigenous squad on a tour of the UK in 2018 to mark 150 years since an all-Aboriginal cricket team became Australia’s first sporting squad to leave these shores.
The allrounder viewed that tour as nice recognition for his predecessors but was hopeful it wouldn’t prove tokenistic from CA, and Christian believes the Mullagh Medal, which will be presented at the conclusion of such an iconic fixture, is another avenue forward.
