Daniel Trevor Christian (born 4 May 1983) is a former Australian professional cricketer with Aboriginal ancestry. He was considered a Twenty20 specialist and played for franchises all over the globe. Christian is known as a powerful hitter and a useful medium pacer. ESPNcricinfo's Peter English described him as a "natural all-rounder". He is seen as a cricket role model for Australia's indigenous population.[1]
In 2003, Christian attended the Australian Cricket Academy.[3]
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.[4]
In 2009, Christian captained an Indigenous Australian cricket team that toured England.[5] ESPNcricinfo 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."[1] He was brought into Australia's Twenty20 team "following a series of brutal, clever and consistent performances."[1]
Christian played for Hampshire in their victorious 2010 Twenty20 Cup campaign.
Additionally, Christian was a part of the Deccan Charger’s team which competed annually in the DLF IPL - he was purchased for US$900,000.[6]
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 2015, Christian signed for his 4th English County, Nottinghamshire in a spell that would bring both him and the club great success in the t20 Blast competition.[11]
In November 2020, he was picked by Karachi Kings for Pakistan Super League. He played the first few matches but withdrew from tournament in March 2021 due to a Covid-19 outbreak.[22] Before that he had played for Multan Sultans in the PSL 2019.[23]
On 8 August 2021, Christian scored 30 runs off an over bowled by left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan as part of a 15-ball 39 scored against Bangladesh,[25] to become the first Australian to hit five sixes in a single over of a T20 international.[26] Later the same month, Christian was named as one of three players as injury cover in Australia's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.[27]
Books
In 2022 he wrote The All-rounder - The inside story of big time cricket with Gideon Haigh about his exploits in cricket during 2021 with RCB, Australia and in the Hundred.[28]
