Born on 4 May 1983 in New South Wales, Australia, Dan Christian is a powerful right-hand batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler. Described by EspnCricinfo as a “natural all-rounder” and “a global T20 gun-for-hire”, Christian has played for 16 different franchises, appeared in 11 T20 finals and won an impressive number of titles. He has also put in some outstanding performances, including ‘Player of the Match’ in the 2018-19 Big Bash League Final for the Melbourne Renegades.
A naturally gifted sportsman, Christian could have pursued a career in rugby league. His father had played for the Newtown Jets and Dan was a key member of the St Gregory’s College XIII in New South Wales, playing in their 2000 national championships team. His rugby injuries – including two broken legs – and a call-up to the Australian Under-19 cricket side led to a shift in sporting focus.
Having joined the Australian Cricket Academy in 2003, Christian started playing List-A cricket for New South Wales in 2006 before moving to South Australia in 2007 and making his First-Class debut. Dan captained the Indigenous Australian teams on their tours of the UK in 2009 and 2018, the latter to mark the 150th anniversary of the first international tour by an Aboriginal cricket team in 1868 - including a match at Trent Bridge to commemorate a fixture v The Gentlemen of Nottingham that had ended in a draw. In 2010 he broke into Australia’s T20 team and his ODI debut followed in 2012.
Dan is a familiar face in England, having appeared for Hampshire (First-Class, List A and T20 champions in 2010), Gloucestershire (First-Class and T20 in 2013) and Middlesex (T20 in 2014).
Dan joined Notts as a red-ball player in 2015 before playing all formats – and becoming the T20 Captain – in 2016. Since 2017 he has concentrated on T20 matches and in that year he led the Outlaws to their first victory on T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston. Under his leadership the Outlaws won the Vitality Blast for the second time in 2020, Christian being named man-of-the-match in both the semi-final - when he clinched an Outlaws victory with four consecutive sixes - and in the final when he finished with bowling figures of 4-23. 
In 87 T20 matches for Notts, Christian scored 1,715 runs at an average of 33.62 and took 48 wickets. His 37-ball century against Northamptonshire in 2018 remains the fastest for the Outlaws in the format.
Dan Christian played his final T20 Blast game for the Outlaws in July 2022, skippering them to a decisive victory over Durham in the last home game of that season - the team having missed out on the knock-out stages of the competition. He was given a warm and prolonged farewell by the home crowd, in recognition of his part in making the Outlaws a major force in English T20 cricket.
As the 2023 Big Bash season in Australia came to an end, Dan Christian announced his retirement from all cricket. In all T20 cricket, the ultra-competitive all-rounder had 405 appearances, 5,809 runs and 280 wickets to his name. He has won domestic T20 trophies around the world on nine occasions since 2010 - in addition to three Sheffield Shield championships with Victoria.
January 2023
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 640