{"id":286533,"date":"2023-04-17T03:07:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T03:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=286533"},"modified":"2023-04-17T07:02:19","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T07:02:19","slug":"remarkable-aboriginal-sporting-icon-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=286533","title":{"rendered":"'Remarkable' Aboriginal sporting icon dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Faith Thomas, the first Aboriginal woman to play Test cricket<\/a> for Australia, has died at the age of 90.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThomas broke new ground when she represented Australia in a Test against England in Melbourne in 1958.<\/p>\n

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She was the first \ufeffIndigenous woman to represent the country in any sport.<\/p>\n

Thomas, a fast bowler, began playing cricket for a club in Adelaide, and after only three games was picked to represent South Australia. It was the following year she was selected to play for Australia.<\/p>\n

Despite being picked for further tours to England and New Zealand, Thomas declined and instead opted to stay in Adelaide and work as a nurse.<\/p>\n

\"Faith<\/p>\n

She was a survivor of the Stolen Generations, and raised at Colebrook Home in the Flinders Ranges.<\/p>\n

\ufeffIt was there she first experienced cricket, playing games on dirty roads using an improvised bat and often a rock as a ball.<\/p>\n

In 2019 Thomas was recognised for her services to nursing, sport, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with an Order of Australia\ufeff.<\/p>\n

She is still honoured in elite Australian cricket as the national WBBL competition competes for the Faith Thomas Trophy each year.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/melindafarrell\/status\/1647789107496603648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"Faith Thomas made a wonderful and groundbreaking contribution to cricket and the community, and this is a very sad day for all those fortunate to have known her or who were touched by her many accomplishments," Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley said.<\/p>\n

"As the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia in Test cricket, Faith was an inspiration to those who have followed and she leaves an indelible mark on the game.<\/p>\n

"Faith's work in the community in many roles including as a nurse and midwife was also immense, and the care and compassion she displayed for the many people she helped was truly remarkable.<\/p>\n

"On behalf of everyone across Australian cricket, I offer my heartfelt condolences to Faith's family, friends, teammates and all those who have benefitted from her vast contribution to Australian life."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains an image of a person who has died. Faith Thomas, the first […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":286535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=286533"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286536,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286533\/revisions\/286536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/286535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=286533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=286533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=286533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}