Canberra cricketer Sally Moylan had no idea a trip to India was up for grabs when she took up an invitation from the Northern Territory to play in their Imparja Cup team at the annual Indigenous cricket tournament in February.
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Moylan, who played for the ACT Meteors before taking a year off cricket, was named the vice-captain of the inaugural Australian Indigenous women's cricket team currently touring India, after a strong showing at the Alice Springs carnival.
Australia had previously only named and sent a men's Indigenous side overseas, and the 27-year-old off-spinner, originally from Wellington, NSW, said putting on the Australian uniform was one of her "proudest moments to date".
"As a young kid playing many sports, you always dream of putting on the green and gold and representing your country, and I tell you what, this is probably one of the best moments," she said.
"To be able to put green and gold on for your mob and being able to showcase not only where I'm from and represent my people and my family ... but showing the Indigenous community that these pathways are there."
Moylan, a horticulturalist, didn't play with the Meteors last summer after getting a job with ACT Parks and Conservation, spending much of the summer on stand-by to fight fires and doing hazard reduction burns.
"I missed being out there chasing the cricket ball around and the competitiveness, and am definitely keen to get back into it and play at that level again.
"I'd be definitely interested in a Big Bash contract and to make my way back into national league, but I think having 12 months off, it's probably going to be a bit of a step to get back there."
The team will play six matches on the 11-day tour, including against a boys' cricket academy, as well as the Delhi and Mumbai women's teams.
Moylan, a self-confessed "Bollywood fan", is hoping to play well in the subcontinent and "hopefully knock on a few doors and see what happens from that".
Moylan is not the only Canberra woman heading overseas for cricket; ACT Meteors Sam Bates and Jodie Hicks will spend a week in Dubai at the end of the month for a training camp with the Sydney Thunder and Sydney Sixers Women's Big Bash League squads.
The two NSW teams were the finalists in the inaugural WBBL, and the trip to Dubai is reward for their efforts.
For Bates, the inter-squad games will be her first hit out since breaking her wrist early on in the Thunder's WBBL season, but it won't be her first cricket trip to the UAE, having played against England with the Shooting Stars there last year.
"It's not a big sport in the country, but ... they've actually got extraordinary facilities, it's quite surprising," she said.
The teams will train over there and play some inter-squad matches, and showcase cricket to the region with school visits.
