Ellyse Perry has refused to endorse Pat Cummins and Steve Smith
Cricket embroiled in row over Australia Day date
But Perry says more education is needed on the topic.
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Ellyse Perry has refused to join Pat Cummins and Steve Smith in demanding change on Australia Day after players in the men’s team took a controversial stance this week.
Both Cummins and Smith have stated that January 26 is not an appropriate date to celebrate the national holiday, the date being a highly controversial issue due to the landing of Britain’s First Fleet in Australia.
Smith said she adopted her view after speaking to teammate Scott Boland, who is of Indigenous heritage, while last year women’s all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner described it as a “day of pain and mourning”.
Speaking ahead of the T20 series against South Africa, Gardner’s teammate Perry opted not to give an opinion on the matter.
She stressed that she and her teammates had learned from Gardner’s stance and that education on the issue is crucial.
Ellyse Perry has refused to endorse Pat Cummins’ Australia Day stance
Cummins and Steve Smith believe the date of the national holiday should be changed
“I think this is a much broader national debate and one that requires much more insight than I have,” he said.
“I think that’s probably not really the focus for us as a team. It’s certainly more about taking every opportunity we can to educate ourselves and make sure we represent the entire community because, for us as a team, we champion diversity and inclusion in each space.
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‘This was a big issue for us last year as well, and for us it’s been a process over the last three or four years where we’ve really invested in learning and educating ourselves as best we can on a lot of these issues.
‘Ash is a wonderful role model for the First Nations community, and we have learned a lot by doing different things, whether it be cultural experiences or learning from leaders in that space.
“I think that’s our priority and focus going forward.”
Smith said earlier this week: “I was talking to Scott Boland about this the other day and as Australians we want all Australians to celebrate that day.”
‘All Australians don’t like the way things are right now.
“Maybe that’s the way to go, (changing it) so that all Australians celebrate that day.”
Smith’s position comes as Cricket Australia faces scrutiny from some quarters over the decision not to use the term “Australia Day” in marketing for the Gabba Test against the West Indies.
CA’s stance remains in line with the sport’s decision in 2021 to remove the term from promoting BBL matches on that day, with some teams wearing indigenous stripes instead.
But Australian cricketer Perry believes more education is needed on the issue.
That call sparked scathing criticism from then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who called the decision “ordinary” and told Cricket Australia to focus “a little more on cricket and a little less on politics.”
Smith and Cummins’ stance has angered some sections of the public, with 3AW Mornings presenter Tom Elliott delivering a scathing criticism of the captain.
“It makes me angry,” Elliott said. ‘She sits there and pontificates, saying “ah well, Australia Day is a source of pain for so many people, we have to change the date.”
‘Hey Pat Cummins, you get paid millions of dollars to pay for cricket. If it weren’t for the British settlement in Australia, there would be no cricket here.
“So money is made, quite directly, from the fact that we were colonized by the United Kingdom. Then you sit there criticizing the whole thing.
“He’s just an absolute hypocrite.”