If he makes his debut, Brendan Doggett will become just the third Indigenous man after Jason Gillespie and Scott Boland to play Test cricket for Australia
AAP16-Nov-2025Seven years after Brendan Doggett was first picked in an Australia squad, the ultimate late-bloomer is poised to become the country’s 472nd Test cricketer.After the untimely hamstring injury to in-form quick Josh Hazlewood, Doggett is set to make his debut when the Ashes gets underway at Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday. The 31-year-old will slot into Australia’s fast-bowling attack alongside Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland, a man with many similarities to his journey.Just two Indigenous men – Boland and Jason Gillespie – have represented Australia in almost 150 years of Test cricket. But Doggett is set to become the third, learning more about his Aboriginal heritage in his 20s after first earning a contract with Queensland Bulls.Related
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Proudly from Toowoomba, the man with 190 first-class wickets has spent the last four seasons helping South Australia rise from perennial battlers to Sheffield Shield champions.Doggett first received a call-up to an Australia squad in 2018, just months after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Injuries slowed him down, but a move to South Australia in 2021 to become the leader of their attack has paid off.He has been consistently named in Australian squads over the past 18 months, stuck behind Starc, Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins. But with Cummins and Hazlewood both injured for the start of the Ashes defence, the three-time Shield winner should get his shot.”He’s one of the quicker bowlers in Australia,” Gillespie, who coached Doggett for South Australia, told ABC Radio on Sunday. “Got a good motor, he’s a greyhound and is as fit as a fiddle. He’s ready to go.
“His path to a potential Baggy Green is not a common one in the modern game. It just shows the value of our local competitions, plying away and working on your craft”Jason Gillespie on Brendan Doggett
“England will sniff an opportunity [without Cummins and Hazlewood], but I’m confident the Australian seam attack is good enough to get the job done.”Doggett’s selection will only prompt further “Dad’s Army” jibes from England.Like Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster did in January, Doggett will join a small club to have made their Test debuts for Australia without having played a white-ball international in their 20s. Before Webster was brought in for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy decider, Bryce McGain was the only member of that group. If Jake Weatherald is selected to open the batting with Usman Khawaja in Perth, he will also be making his international debut at 31.If Jake Weatherald plays the Perth Test, Australia will have two 30-plus debutants in the same game•Getty ImagesDoggett never made any representative team until he was in his 20s, eventually making his domestic debut for the former Cricket Australia XI that played in the One-Day Cup in October 2016.He was plucked out of local cricket in his 20s, after dominating for Toowoomba Souths.”His path to a potential Baggy Green is not a common one in the modern game,” Gillespie said. “It just shows the value of our local competitions, plying away and working on your craft.”Doggett’s former Queensland team-mate Michael Neser was added to the squad on Saturday when Hazlewood was ruled out. If Hazlewood and Cummins still aren’t fit for the second Test at the Gabba, Neser could join Doggett in the XI.The only two Tests of Neser’s career were with the pink ball, with Australia preferring to play four quicks instead of veteran spinner Nathan Lyon when they last played a day-nighter.
