Trailblazer whose name adorns the prize for player of the Boxing Day Test would be shocked at the lack of Indigenous Test cricketers in Australia’s history

Sam Konstas lit up the MCG with his audacious ‘ramp’ shots in the fourth Test against India. But Johnny ‘Unaarrim’ Mullagh, Australia’s first Indigenous sporting hero was ramping 150 summers ago.

“Dropping on one knee to a fast rising ball, he would hold his bat over his shoulder and parallel to the ground,” wrote historian DJ Mulvaney of the man whose name adorns the medal that will be awarded to the best player of the Boxing Day Test, in a new edition of his book Cricket Walkabout. “The ball would touch the blade, and shoot high over the wicket-keeper’s head to the boundary.”