Two Victorians to tour India with National Indigenous Squad

Natalie Plane and Jacinta Goodger-Chandler are part of a squad of 14 that will play a series of matches in Delhi and Mumbai against the Yuvraj Singh Cricket Academy, Delhi women’s team and Mumbai Cricket Association women’s team.

Goodger-Chandler was a member of Victoria’s successful Under-18 side that claimed the National Championships while Plane    was a key player in Melbourne making both Premier Firsts Finals this season.

Selected based on performances at club level and at the National Indigenous Cricket Championships – which had a record number of female participants – in February, the tour is the first of its kind.

The tour fittingly comes in the year of the 150th anniversary of the ground-breaking all-Aboriginal cricket team that played its first match at the MCG in 1866, and later became the first Australian sports team to tour overseas when it embarked on a tour of the UK in 1868.

The team will combine playing duties with a trip to the iconic Taj Mahal, a visit Australian High Commission in Delhi, and community work with non-government organisation Magic Bus, which uses sport to support disadvantaged children.

Former ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year and four-time Australian Women’s Cricketer of the Year Shelley Nitschke will coach the team on the tour.

The tour of India is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Australia-India Council as a program that will build awareness and understanding between Australia and India, in this instance through sport and Indigenous culture.