NOVEMBER 2020:

There is no doubt Condobolin’s Caitlin Keen is a talented cricketer.
She was part of the Sydney Sixers women’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander team that contested the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander T20 Cup.
Caitlin was selected to represent the Sydney Sixers at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander T20 Cup to celebrate NAIDOC Week where the Sydney Sixers took on Sydney Thunder at Raby Sports Complex in Sydney on Dharawal country.
Importantly, this tournament is an opportunity to use cricket to promote awareness of culture, and Close the Gap, with numerous cultural ceremonies and activities planned.
The event coincides with the rebel WBBL First Nations Festival of Cricket and the Reconciliation Round for Community and Premier clubs. It is the first time the men’s and women’s Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander T20 Cup have been held concurrently.
At the c o m m e n c e m e n t of the two-day competition the two teams joined together to acknowledge and celebrate culture and paid respect to the land on which they stood during a special
Barefoot Circle and smoking ceremony which was led by local Dharawal elder Uncle Ivan Wellington.
The Sixers teams wore jerseys designed by Ashleigh Gardner’s cousin Allan Shillingsworth from Dubbo which were presented to each player by Australian legend Leah Poulton.
The design on the shirts means: The snake is known as Mundagutta (rainbow serpent), which gave the people their laws.
The circles are the meeting places, and the ‘U’ is the people around them. The sections of the snake represent: family, friends and team. The hands represent ownership.
The competition consisted of three T20 matches which seen at the end of the first day both the Sixers and Thunder winning one game each making Friday’s match the decider.
Caitlin took a vital wicket in Friday’s game by bowling Thunder’s best batter out on 49 runs which then seen the commencement of wickets falling for the Thunder team.
Unfortunately, due to the weather blowing in a storm late Friday afternoon the match was called by the umpires with eight balls to go and the Sixer’s needing 15 runs to take the win.
Therefore, sadly for the Sixers this then declared the Thunder team the winners of the tournament.