Jackson Munro Bird (born 11 December 1986) is an Australian international cricketer. He has played for Australia in the past and currently plays first-class cricket for

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. Bird is a fast-medium bowler. He is originally from Sydney and was educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview and St Pius X College, Chatswood. Bird left the Manly club to further his career with the Tasmanian Tigers in the 2011–2012 season.

Early career

In March 2012, Bird took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

at the

Bellerive Oval Bellerive Oval, currently known as Ninja Stadium for Naming rights, sponsorship reasons, is a Cricket field, cricket oval and Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, Tasmania, Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, T ...

. He finished with match figures of 11/95 and helped Tasmania to a spot in the Sheffield Shield final.

Domestic career

After 10 Sheffield Shield matches, Bird had taken 62 wickets. These came at an average of 17.30 and a strike rate of 36.1 – which was the best in the competition's 120-year history at that point. Bird does not bowl express pace but his ability to swing the ball both ways has proven very successful in domestic cricket. He plays in the Big Bash League for the Sydney Sixers. In March 2018,

Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA) is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...

named Bird in their

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

team of the year.

International career

Bird was picked in the Australian Test Squad prior to the 2012 Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka at the MCG, while

Mitchell Starc Mitchell Aaron Starc (born 30 January 1990) is an Australian international cricketer who plays for the Australian national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket. A left-arm fast bowler and a lower order left-handed batsman, he is Austr ...

was rested. Prior to the commencement of the Test, Bird was presented with a

Baggy green The baggy green is a cricket cap of dark myrtle green colour, which has been worn by Australian Test cricketers since around the turn of the twentieth century. The cap was not originally baggy as evidenced by photographs of early players. Th ...

, making him the 431st person to play Test Cricket for Australia. Opening the bowling, he took the first wicket of the game removing

Dimuth Karunaratne Frank Dimuth Madushanka Karunaratne (born 21 April 1988; ), popularly known as Dimuth Karunaratne, is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer and former captain of Test cricket, Test and One Day International, ODI team of Sri Lanka national cr ...

with his tenth delivery and took a total of two wickets in the first innings. Bird took two wickets in the first session of Sri Lanka's second innings. In the following test in Sydney, Bird was named man of the match after taking 7 wickets across two innings. Bird was picked in the Australian One Day squad for the first time on 19 January prior to the match against Sri Lanka at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

. In January 2017, Bird played as a substitute fielder in the third Test against Pakistan and took four catches during the match, two in each of Pakistan's innings. This equalled Younis Khan's record of four catches as a substitute fielder in a Test.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Jackson 1986 births Australia Test cricketers Australian cricketers Cricketers from Sydney Hampshire cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in England Kent cricketers Living people Nottinghamshire cricketers Sydney Sixers cricketers Tasmania cricketers Melbourne Stars cricketers People educated at St Pius X College, Sydney People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview 21st-century Australian sportsmen