Jason Gillespie and Faith Thomas honoured with trophies under their names

New Big Bash competition trophies have been named behind Faith Thomas and Jason Gillespie, the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cricketers to represent Australia. Faith was the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person to represent Australia in 1958, while Gillespie was the first man of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander to play Test cricket for his country, making his debut in 1996.

Gillespie took 259 wickets in 71 Tests (at an average of 26.13) making him Australia’s sixth-highest wicket-taker, while Thomas played her only international match against England in 1958, and scored 3 runs.

Aboriginal wood artefacts are the centrepieces of the two new trophies, which will be presented to the winners of Adelaide Strikers’ BBL and WBBL games against the Perth Scorchers in Alice Springs on Saturday, 13 January. In future too, both the trophies will be used whenever the Adelaide Strikers play a home match against the Perth Scorchers.

Pretty special feeling

Jason Gillespie, the current coach of the Adelaide Strikers men’s team, said it was humbling for such a huge honour bestowed upon him.

“It’s very humbling … you never expect things like that to come your way,” Gillespie was quoted as saying by adelaidestrikers.co.au. “Aunty Faith is a ripper … it’s a great honour for her, too. To have a trophy named after you is pretty special.”

Thomas’ international career

Having been introduced to cricket by a colleague, Thomas made it to the state women’s team. She played for the South Australia team between 1956 and 1958 but played only a solitary international match. Her mother, Ivy, was a traditional Adnyamathanha woman and her father German. Before playing competitive cricket, she was also a nurse in regional South Australia.

Gillespie, on the other hand, played competitive cricket until 2006. He played his last Test against Bangladesh in April 2006, and along with Glenn Mcgrath, he formed one of the most potent new-ball attacks to have played the game for Australia.

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