Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Yorkshire D40 Quest captain Cameron Cooper will be one of eight players from the county involved in the Disability Premier League, which starts on Sunday.
This weekend, eight of Yorkshire’s Disability stars will begin their Disability Premier League campaigns, and clubs across five of the county’s leagues will be represented.
The Toyota DPL is the game’s flagship Disability event and features 56 of the country’s best players.
Players with physical and learning disabilities, along with hearing impairments, have been drafted to play across four teams; the Black Cats, the Hawks, Pirates and Tridents.
The Pirates are the defending champions of a competition which will conclude with a televised final by Sky Sports at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens on September 10, before England’s men face South Africa under lights in an international T20 match that evening.
The competition is Midlands based for three successive Sundays, starting this weekend in Loughborough and moving on to Worcester and then Malvern.
The Yorkshire leagues represented are the Airedale Wharfedale League, the Bradford League, the Huddersfield League and the Yorkshire Premier Leagues North and South.
Yorkshire are best represented in the Tridents squad, with Adnan Ghani, Luke Riley and Curtis Sugden all picked to play for that side.
Cameron Cooper, Pickering CC
An England fast bowler who is Yorkshire’s National Quest League captain. This summer was his first in charge, and the county challenged for silverware but just fell short.
He is an ever-present in a DPL competition which started in 2021 and will be playing for the Blacks Cats over the next few weeks.
An England Physical Disability quick who also represents his country’s Mixed Disability Lions team, Cooper is a gun in the field and plays in the YPL North system, the Championship East division.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. New Farnley all-rounder Edward Denton will represent the Hawks in the forthcoming DPL.
Edward Denton, New Farnley CC
A young all-rounder – an off-spinner and a top order batter – Denton plays second-team cricket for Bradford League powerhouse New Farnley, a club whose first team are currently on course to win the Premier League title.
This will be his third DPL campaign, and he will be playing for the Hawks.
Denton plays for the England Mixed Disability Lions team.
Adnan Ghani, Thongsbridge CC
Pakistan Deaf international fast bowler Ghani lit up last year’s DPL final with figures of 4-18 as his Pirates side won the title, beating the Tridents at Cardiff.
Ghani plays in the Huddersfield Premier League and in 2016 took 10-23 whilst playing for Denby Cricket Club against Marsden, including six of his wickets bowled.
Earlier this summer, ahead of England men’s Test Match against India at Headingley, he was a net bowler for the England. Joe Root described him as a “great talent” and said: “He hit me so hard in the nuts and sent me to my knees!”
Picture courtesy of Thongsbridge CC. Pakistan Deaf international fast bowler Adnan Ghani starred in last year’s DPL final with four wickets.
Alex Jervis, Higham CC
An experienced seamer who has been there and done it in the Disability game, winning titles at international and county level.
He plays his league cricket in the Yorkshire Premier League South structure and has been playing for England’s Learning Disability side since 2015. In international cricket, that team is unbeaten since 1996.
Jervis also plays cricket for the MCC, has been a driving force on and off the field behind the improvement of the Yorkshire Disability set-up and has undertaken charity work with the Cricket Without Boundaries charity.
Luke Riley, South Holderness CC
A bowling all-rounder with England Deaf experience, Riley will be representing the Tridents.
He’s another DPL ever-present and has played for all teams in that time.
Riley, a seam bowler and a handy lower order batter, plays his league cricket in the Hull area for a club in the YPL North system, the Championship East division. He also represents the England Mixed Disability Lions team.
Curtis Sugden, Old Leo’s CC
A wicketkeeper-batter who is one of the rising stars of the Yorkshire.
Teenager Sugden plays in the Aire Wharfe League structure, and this will be his first DPL campaign. He has been one of the county’s standout players in his first two years representing the county.
Sugden’s selection to play for the Tridents comes on the back of an invitation to join an England mixed-disability training camp in Luton earlier this month.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Wicketkeeper-batter Liam Thomas bats for Yorkshire against an England Pan Disability XI at Headingley last year.
Liam Thomas, Methley CC
A wicketkeeper-batter who plays in the Bradford Premier League, Thomas is an England Physical Disability World Cup winner.
He retired from international cricket earlier this year having played at some of the best venues in the world.
He’s a DPL ever-present and will play for the Pirates once again having won the competition with them last season. Earlier this summer, he was part of the BBC Radio Leeds commentary team for a Yorkshire men’s County Championship match.
Henry Wainman, Horsforth Hall Park CC
A left-arm spinner who plays first-team cricket in the Aire Wharfe Premier Division, Wainman is an ever-present in the DPL.
He is an established England Deaf international and won the Ashes Down Under in 2020. He will be playing for the Pirates.
Wainman, the younger brother of ex-Yorkshire and Warwickshire fast bowler James, has also recently featured in England’s Pan-Disability series triumph against India.
