HOW was your Australia Day?
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It probably wasn’t as good as the day Knox Gibson enjoyed.
The seven-year-old won a Cricket Australia competition to be involved in the national anthem ceremony during Australia’s one-day international match against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Rain meant the ceremony didn’t go ahead as planned.
“It was too wet to go on the field so they organised something else,” Knox grinned.
“We got to meet Shane Watson.”
The competition winners and their families were taken to the press conference room at the SCG.
There, Knox was selected to be the focus of a mock press conference where the other children asked him questions.
“Shane Watson was standing at the door watching for about four minutes,” Knox smiled.
Then Knox, along with his brother Hamish, 10, and sister Bella, 8, met the Australian cricket allrounder.
“He signed things for us. When we all had a group photo, I got to stand next to him,” Knox beamed.
Knox found out he had won the competition around two weeks before the game.
“There was a competition where you had to say in 25 words or less who your favourite player was and why,” Knox’s mum Kate explained.
“We spoke about it and Knox said it was Mitchell Johnson because he’s a good bowler and Knox likes his moustache.”
Knox admits, at first, he didn’t believe his mother when she told him he’d won.
“Then I was real happy,” he said.
It was planned Knox would go onto the field with an Australian player to sing the national anthem.
However, the wet weather meant those plans had to change and they met up with Watson instead.
“He was amazing with the kids,” Kate said of Watson.
They also went to the indoor cricket centre at the SCG and bumped into more Australian players.
“Mitchell Johnson said hello to Hamish,” Bella said.
“And we saw Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins,” Hamish added.
To top it all off, Knox was given a medal for participating in the day.
“I slept with my medal the last two nights,” Knox said.
The T20 Blast cricketer, who can bat as well as bowl pace and spin, said meeting Watson was the highlight of the experience for him.