Dan Christian


Daniel Trevor Christian is an Australian professional cricketer. He is considered as a Twenty20 cricket specialist and has played for franchises all over the globe. Christian is known as a powerful hitter and a useful medium pacer. CricInfo's Peter English described him as a "natural all-rounder". His inclusion is seen as a landmark to Aboriginal inclusiveness in Australian cricket.

Early life

Born in 1983, Christian grew up in the town of Narrandera in the Riverina region of New South Wales and is of indigenous Wiradjuri ancestry. He lived in Narrandera until he completed primary school and then he moved to Sydney and attended St Gregory's College, Campbelltown.

Cricket career

In 2003 Christian attended the Australian Cricket Academy.
Christian played List A cricket for New South Wales in 2006 and 2007. After he was not offered a new contract for the 2007–08 season he moved to South Australia where he soon found himself playing first-class cricket for the state team.
In 2009 Christian captained an Indigenous Australian cricket team that toured England. Cricinfo noted that "With the bat Christian can be brutal, particularly when aiming at Adelaide's square boundaries, and he is one of those rare strikers whose eyes don't need a warm-up ball." He was brought into Australia's Twenty20 "following a series of brutal, clever and consistent performances."
In February 2010, he made his Twenty20 International debut against the West Indies and was a member of Australia's squad for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.
Christian played for Hampshire in their victorious 2010 Twenty20 Cup campaign.
Additionally, Christian was a part of the Deccan Charger's team which competes annually in the DLF IPL - he was purchased for US$900,000.
On 2 March 2012, he took figures of 5/31 which included a hat-trick in an ODI match against Sri Lanka at the MCG. Despite his impressive figures, Australia were unable to win the match.
He was picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a sum of US$100,000, and joined them for their IPL-6 campaign.
In 2013, Christian signed for the English side Gloucestershire Gladiators to play in the 2013 Twenty20 Cup, although he did play a first-class game for Gloucestershire against Australia A. The following year he signed for Middlesex Panthers to play in the 2014 t20 Blast, a spell which included an innings against Kent of 129, which included ten sixes.
In February 2017, he was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants team for the 2017 Indian Premier League. In January 2018, he was bought by the Delhi Daredevils in the 2018 IPL auction.
In October 2018, he was named in Jozi Stars' squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Dublin Chiefs in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.
In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the Jozi Stars team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament.