Smith's Crew in SA

[malo]

You can't say that..........!

ha, yeah on first glance that remark would seem inappropriate, even if it is close to the mark !

But, lets look into that one statement a little more.  In terms of participation & an untapped resource for Australian cricket, it is a statement that stacks up.  Indigenous kids are, almost without exception, heading to the 2 main football codes (AFL, Rugby League) & those two codes have benefited enormously from the pool of talent &  skills that they bring to both of those games.  Cricket is well & truly missing out.......as was the case for many years  in South Africa.  The local black population was always a huge un-tapped talent for cricket & I always thought that the Saffers had the potential to be the next fast bowling megapower (similar to the Windies) if even a little of that talent could be siphoned off from Soccer to Cricket in that Country.  We are are starting to see the results of that now ......even if their method (the quota system) is flawed & goes entirely against my grain.

It's probably even harder for cricket to capture the imagination of indigenous kids in this country, but its something they have to try to do if the game is to grow.  There have been & continue to be blokes with aboriginal heritage involved in cricket at the highest level (Gillespie, Darcy Short for starters), but no-where near enough.

Just my thoughts

cheers

Mal.