SHE'S already been touted by Cricket Australia as a player to watch, but now star all-rounder Callee Black is set to be a national history maker as well.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bathurst teenager has been selected by Cricket Australia to be part of the inaugural tour to Vanuatu by the National Indigenous squads.
It will be a big moment in the playing career of the 16-year-old who has already contested representative matches on fields across Australia.
She approaches her cricket with a simply philosophy, saying: "Some days you're not always going to get a result but, as long as you're playing with a smile on your face, that's all that matters."
Black, a Wiradjuri woman, earned her selection in the touring squad off the back of off the back of a strong performance in the women's division at the recent National Indigenous Cricket Championships in Alice Springs.
Black scored 148 runs across six games in the top order for NSW at that tournament, including hitting the top score for her state in the final against Queensland.
Also a threat with the new ball, Black took seven wickets at an average of 9.29.
Her best performance of the tournament came in the semi-final win over Western Australia, Black making 38 runs and taking 1-16 off four overs.
Her efforts in open age company was impressive, but Black is used to playing against older opponents.
In 2021, as a 14-year-old, she was selected in the NSW Women's Indigenous team which played a T20 Women's Tri-Series at Bradman Oval against the NSW Country Bush Breakers and an SCG XI.
This season Black was part of the Penrith side which won the Sydney Women's Premier Cricket first grade grand final.
Black made her first grade debut with Penrith in December 2021, that moment coming the summer after she was named the club's female cricketer of the year.
In Vanuatu Black and her NSW side, which will be skippered by NSW Breakers star Hannah Darlington, has been scheduled to play four Twenty20 matches.
Chair of selectors, Julien Wiener, says the tour will act as another step in the development of players like Black.
"Whilst the aim to is bring strong and competitive squads to Pacific, our focus is also on providing opportunities to develop and nurture young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cricketers and we look forward to player development both on and off the field," he said.
The men's and women's Indigenous XI squads last played internationally in five years ago in England.
This year's tour is part of Cricket Australia's plan to help grow the sport globally by working with emerging cricketing countries.
Vanuatu has over 25,000 cricket participants and their men's and women's national cricket teams are the country's highest-ranked sporting sides.
"Congratulations to those selected for the national men's and women's Indigenous teams for what promises to be an exciting international tour that delivers a key priority for Australian Cricket to support the growth of global cricket," Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia's CEO, said.
On tour Black will be in the same Indigenous themed One-Day International kit that the Australian women's team wore in home one-day internationals this season.
The tour will take place from May 3-10.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
