AustLit

'In Australia the formation of a national cricket team acted as a popular exemplar of the nationbuilding project, a touchstone of an emergent national identity and an important precursor to the political establishment of a white nation. Reflecting the attitudes of a nation-state that viewed membership of the white race and cultural adherence to British standards of civilisation as mandatory to national belonging, it is unsurprising that in the twentieth century the Australian cricket team also came to represent itself as the exclusive domain of white men. Popular narratives that mythologised Australian cricket celebrated matches against England as ‘Tests’ of white Australian masculinity. Cricketing victories against England were seen as indicative of the physical and moral superiority of the British race in Australia measured against those born in the mother country. No player publicly known to be Aboriginal has ever been selected to represent Australia in Test Match cricket, a fact that demonstrates the enduring strength of the historic relationship between Australian cricket and white nationalist sentiment.' (Introduction)