Alex Kerr, 16, is representing Victoria in the Imparja Cup indigenous cricket tournament in Alice Springs this week. Picture: Stewart Chambers.By Paul Pickering
FROM the clubrooms of the North Dandenong Cricket Club to the dusty wickets of the Red Centre, Alex Kerr is spreading the word of the Australia’s ‘national game’ to the land’s original inhabitants.
This week, Kerr has been part of a 13-man squad of indigenous cricketers representing Victoria at the Imparja Cup in Alice Springs.
Making his third appearance in the open-age tournament at just 16, Kerr has clearly been earmarked by Cricket Victoria as both an exciting talent and an emerging ambassador for his community.
When play began on Monday, the Imparja Cup entered its eighth year of a program aimed at nurturing gifted cricketers and promoting the sport throughout the indigenous population.
As Cricket Victoria community programs manager Paul Mullarvey explained, the tournament began primarily as a social gathering for older cricketers, but the focus swiftly changed to identifying and developing talented teens.
“It’s open age, but we try to send young guys now,” Mullarvey said. “Cricket hasn’t been a sport too many indigenous communities have warmed to, so it’s a real target area. We use the players themselves as advocates within their own communities to try and get young kids playing cricket.”
While you could expect the responsibility of being labeled an ambassador to weigh heavily on a 16-year-old, Kerr says he is happy to promote the game to his own Wurundjeri people and the broader indigenous community.
“It is (an honour), because I get to represent my national (indigenous) community and also my state,” he said. “And it encourages younger kids to get involved.”
And it doesn’t take long to work out that Kerr is truly passionate about his cricket.
The Lyndale Secondary College student spends the majority of his summer weekends on the park with North Dandenong in the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA).
This season, he’s padded up for the club’s Turf Two seniors, under 17s and C Grade teams – sometimes all in one weekend.
Kerr’s array of talents were on display in an under 17 game against Maranatha Methodist in December, when he scored an unbeaten 108 before snaring 2/28 with the ball, taking three catches and effecting a run-out.
As a dashing right-handed batsman, Kerr models his game on Australian Test captain-in-waiting Michael Clarke, but his respect for the history of indigenous cricket prompts him to list Jason Gillespie and Mitchell Johnson among his sporting heroes.
The pace pair are the only cricketers with an indigenous background to wear the baggy green.
While Kerr knows it will take a lot of hard work for him to add his name to that list, his experience in representing Victoria at the Imparja Cup places him on the right track.
For now, he is hoping to help the Vics improve on their third placing behind Queensland and New South Wales last year.
