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

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Bird is a

fast-medium bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...

. He is originally from Sydney and was educated at

Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Jesuit tradition, located in Riverview, a small suburb located on the Lane Cove River on the ...

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 wic ...

against

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

at the

Bellerive Oval Bellerive Oval, known commercially as Blundstone Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, Australia, holding 20,000 people it is the largest ...

. 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), formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board (ACB), 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 Crick ...

named Bird in their

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

team of the year.

International career

Bird was picked in the Australian Test Squad prior to the 2012

Boxing Day Test The Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, involving the Australian cricket team and an opposing national team that is touring Australia during the southern summer. It begins annually on Boxing ...

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, Starc repres ...

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. The ...

, 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; si, දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න), popularly known as Dimuth Karunaratne, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and current captain of the Sri Lanka Test cricket team. ...

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. 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 Pakstan's innings. This equalled

Younis Khan Mohammad Younis Khan PP SI (Urdu: ; Pashto: ; born 29 November 1977) is a Pakistani professional cricket coach and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all three formats of the game, and is widely regarded as ...

'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 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