Oz cricket fraternity welcomes ethnic broadening of national selection

MELBOURNE - The Australian cricket fraternity has welcomed the broader selections at the national level over the past year, and according to those involved with the sport, it is being seen as great news for the estimated 20,000 junior players who hail from ethnically-diverse communities.

The Age quoted Seb Kipman, a community programs officer with Cricket Victoria, as saying that the presence of players from different cultures in the national squad would play a major role in inspiring youngsters who would not have previously considered wearing whites.

He was referring to the selection of Usman Khawaja, Moises Henriques and Dan Christian.

“It’s huge,” he said, adding “We’ve got a former Zimbabwean cricketer (Waddington Mwayenga) who works with us as a multicultural officer and even to go out to these communities with him, he’s someone they can identify with and he makes a huge difference to these kids.”

“There might be an outside perception in the Australian side that it is all white Anglo-Saxon males who are going to make the team, so for someone from a diverse background to be involved, it would be huge,” Kipman said.

Though Khawaja, who originally hails from Pakistan, is unlikely to play for Australia in the first Test against Pakistan in England, the fact remains that he is quite close to becoming the first Muslim man to wear a Baggy Green.

Before Khawaja, Henriques (born in Portugal) and Christian (of Aboriginal heritage) got call-ups, Australia had only a handful who could claim to represent wider society, notably Lenny Pascoe, Dav Whatmore, Julien Wiener, Jason Gillespie and Andrew Symonds.

Simon Katich and Jason Krejza also added a more eastern European flavour to the team in recent summers.

Khawaja himself believes the face of Australian cricket is changing, and hopes the recognition he has earned will have a positive impact on Muslim society.

“I hope it flows down everywhere, to sub-continental communities, and there’s a lot of people from Lebanon, Middle Eastern areas in Australia, and a significant African population too,” he said in an interview before departing for England.

“So I hope as a whole it has an effect on all those people.

“There’s very talented people from all over the world coming to Australia now, so hopefully they and their kids can go and do whatever they want and hold nothing back.”

Khawaja said he played with against all cultures in Sydney grade cricket, and hoped he and his NSW teammate Henriques could do their part in promoting the sport.

“Everything takes time, but it’s around the corner.”

Kipman said the enthusiasm and talent of the players had exceeded expectations from four years ago, when coaches at the club invited children along to help integrate them into the wider community.

The natural athleticism and skill of Sudanese children has even impressed some good judges.

“The potential’s great,” he said. (ANI)