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Brendan Doggett is set to bowl for Australia in the first Ashes clash in Perth – which will see him make history as the national team fields two Indigenous players in a Test for the first time in its long history.
Seven years after Doggett was first picked in an Australian 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 get underway at Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday.
The 31-year-old will slot into Australia's fast-bowling attack alongside star veteran 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 the Queensland Bulls.
Brendan Doggett (pictured) is set to bowl for Australia in the first Ashes Test. It will be the first time the Aussie Test side has ever fielded two Indigenous stars in the same team
Doggett is poised to join fellow First Nations star Scott Boland (pictured with wife Daphne) in the bowling line-up
Jason Gillespie (pictured right with son Jackson) is the only other Indigenous Aussie man to represent his country in a Test
Other First Nations cricketers like D'Arcy Short have represented Australia, but only in white-ball formats.
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 Australian 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.
Doggett 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.
Doggett (pictured playing Sheffield Shield for South Australia) is widely tipped to come in to the national side to replace Josh Hazlewood
Hazlewood was playing in the Shield for NSW (pictured) when he picked up the hamstring injury that sent shockwaves through Aussie cricket
'He's ready to go.
'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 all-rounder Beau Webster did in January, Doggett will join a small club to have made their Test debut 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 age-defying 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.
Doggett never made any representative team until he was in his 20s, eventually making his domestic debut for the former CA 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 teammate, 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.
