Daniel Christian      

Daniel Christian maintained much of his proficiency across three forms of the game in 2010-11, and received a Test call-up for Australia's series against New Zealand in December 2011, though he did not debut. He played a useful role for South Australia in their lifting of the domestic Twenty20 trophy in the 2010-11 season, while also finishing top of the state runs aggregates in limited overs cricket and second to Ben Edmondson among the wicket-takers. His Sheffield Shield returns dropped away a little by comparison - not helped by a pair when leading SA for the first time against Queensland - something Christian will want to rectify over the coming summer.

Christian's move from New South Wales to South Australia paid off well before he was elevated to Australia's Twenty20 squad in 2009-10. Christian was surprisingly not offered a contract with the Blues for 2007-08 after playing every FR Cup and Twenty20 match the season before, but the Redbacks were quick to snap him up after Rod Marsh made a phone call. The switch has been a huge success, beginning when he played four first-class matches and impressed in the one-day arena with an average of 44.66 and a high score of 94. The following summer Christian's fast-medium bowling proved valuable and he was South Australia's second top Sheffield Shield wicket taker with 27 at 26.14.

He has also been a huge asset in the Twenty20 competition where his heavy hitting is a big feature. It helped win him a promotion to the national team and he appeared three times in green and gold in 2009-10. A second-ball four followed 2 for 29 on debut against West Indies, and he was picked in the World Twenty20 squad, although he didn't play a game in the Caribbean. However, his biggest pay-day followed in January 2011, when he was picked up by Deccan Chargers in the IPL auctions for a whopping $900,000.

In his days at New South Wales, Christian showed promise as a top-order batsman, but he fits in well in the middle of South Australia's order and in the attack. A member of the victorious Australia Under-19 World Cup-winning squad in 2001-02, Christian attended the Academy in 2003. He has an Aboriginal heritage, being from the Wiradjuri tribe in New South Wales, and is a graduate of Cricket Australia's indigenous cricket program, captaining the national indigenous development squad during a tour of England in 2009.
Cricinfo staff July 2011