Disability Cricket is thriving in Yorkshire at present. That was highlighted best at Headingley earlier this month when Select XIs representing Yorkshire and England faced off in a 30-over Showcase fixture.
It was Yorkshire’s first ever Disability match (September 6) at a venue where many a great name has dazzled down the years; Knights of the Realm such as Ian Botham and Geoffrey Boycott, Ben Stokes more recently and home hero of the women’s game Katherine Sciver-Brunt.
The quality on show on this particular occasion befitted the venue’s rich tapestry.
England won it comfortably, with Physical Disability (PD) opener Brendon Parr scoring a stunning 131 off 90 balls as 240-4 played 155 all out. But the result didn’t matter.
Players basked in the glory of the day whether or not they had scored runs or been expensive with the ball, families beamed and officials involved reflected on a job well done having worked their socks off to put the event on.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. England captain Chris Edwards shakes hands with Yorkshire President’s XI captain Gordon Laidlaw at the toss.
But scratch the surface and it is clear this event was both the reward for progression and a platform for continued growth.
England PD vice captain Liam Thomas is a Yorkshireman through and through. He represented his home county at Headingley and said: “This is right up there in things I’ve done in cricket.
“I played at Ahmedabad (Narendra Modi Stadium) over the winter on tour with England, and I’ve played on Sky Sports. But playing at Headingley means such a lot.
“We’re trying to grow the game for Disability Sport and Disability Cricket, and this was a great advert for that.”
Growing the game is exactly what has been happening at Yorkshire in recent years.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Liam Thomas bats for the Yorkshire President’s XI against England at Headingley.
While on-field success isn’t the be all and end all, in this case it does indicate a very important point.
In Yorkshire Disability Cricket, there is something for everyone.
There are four levels, aligned to the ECB’s pathway. S1 is basic entry level for players wanting to get into the game with little experience. That then feeds into S9 softball, which then feeds into D40 hardball.
Yorkshire have one S9 team and two D40 teams. The S9s play in a regional softball North league, which they won in 2022 and again this summer.
Yorkshire have a first and second D40 team. The second team has only just finished its second summer. But in 2022, the only D40 side won promotion from their Pursuit League to the National Quest League – the top tier of county cricket. At the first attempt, they then won the national title.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Yorkshire’s Gordon Laidlaw came out of retirement to play at Headingley.
Added to this, Beckfoot School from Bingley have just been crowned National Table Cricket champions.
Batter Gordon Laidlaw, a 2015 Physical Disability World Cup winner with England, was the triumphant captain in 2023.
Ironically, he retired at the end of that campaign and only picked up the bat again having been invited back to play at Headingley for the first time in his decorated career.
He said: “At all abilities, there is something for everybody to get involved with.
“Some of the younger S9 players may develop into hardball cricketers in the future. If they do, fantastic. If they don’t, being there for the love of the game is absolutely fine. To enjoy the game whilst wearing the Yorkshire shirt is an added bonus.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. England’s Brendon Parr is congratulated on his century by Owen Morris, the highly-rated captain of Yorkshire D40 Pursuit team, the county’s Disability Second XI.
Laidlaw started playing Disability Cricket for Yorkshire in 2010, aged 30. An Edinburgh-born native of Doncaster, he has a mild form of Cerebral Palsy called right-sided hemiplegia which affects his right arm and right leg.
He continued to play mainstream league cricket for Warmsworth CC through to retirement at the end of last summer, as many of the top players do across the country.
Laidlaw describes the last few years at D40 level as a “bit of a whirlwind” in terms of what has been achieved and says there is a lot of talent right throughout the Yorkshire pathway.
At present, Yorkshire have 43 signed players at S9 and D40 level, a number they expect to push up to 50 this winter by the time they start their pre-season training programme.
“I’d absolutely say that Yorkshire is leading the way in the North,” continued Laidlaw.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Yorkshire’s Alex Jervis played at Headingley and is an England legend.
“There are a few counties doing things very well, and have been for a quite a while – the likes of Middlesex, Surrey and Hampshire. But we’re up there now competing with the Southern counties.”
There are many key individuals with regards to the development of Yorkshire’s structure. Too many to mention. But Owen Jervis, Yorkshire’s Disability Teams manager, is one.
His son Alex has been bowling seam for England’s Learning Disability side for the last decade, winning Ashes series and other such prestigious team and individual honours, and he was part of Yorkshire’s Quest League title triumph last summer.
Off the field, Alex has pushed for better for Disability Cricket, he has helped coach Yorkshire teams and has also done some charity work abroad with the Cricket Without Boundaries charity.
Likewise, Owen has pushed hard for better. And he has got it.
Picture by YCCC. Yorkshire Disability team manager Owen Jervis.
“Alex first got into Disability Cricket in 2009, and in 2012 he got into the England squad,” he said. “So I’ve been around it for a long time.
“With Yorkshire, I didn’t really get involved in a leadership capacity until just after Covid, in 2020.
“I put together a five-year plan alongside Gareth Davies at the Yorkshire Cricket Board and more latterly with Donna Staniland, who is now their head of operations. In terms of the on-field stuff, we’ve achieved what we set out to do in two or three.
“In my tenure, we’ve integrated Deaf talent into our system. We’ve then moved four of those players – Ed Denton, James O’Connor, Luke Riley and Cam Sweeney – on through the ECB Disability Premier League and into national squads.
“Also in the DPL, we’re consistently providing new players.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Wicketkeeper Curtis Sugden is one of Yorkshire’s rising stars.
“This year, we’ve focused on youth and bringing in younger players, which we’ve been relatively successful with. In our Pursuit team – our second team – I could easily put out an Under 21s team.
“We’ve come a long way, but there’s so much more we can do.
“On my radar imminently is the fact we don’t have a women and girls offering yet. We have one female, Claire Harris, in our S9 team.
“Also, something else we should be looking at is Clock Cricket, which is for people with Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, all those sorts of things.
“Trophies are just a by-product of having good processes and systems in place, and whilst we have a good performance pathway, there’s so much more we can do in the rest of the Disability space.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Squads of Yorkshire and England line up at Headingley to face off earlier this month.
The England squad which played at Headingley included four of their best players from across three Disability categories, Deaf, Learning Disability and Physical Disability. Yorkshire opted to match them.
The home side played under the name of Yorkshire President Jane Powell, whose day job sees her work as the ECB’s Disability Performance Manager, hence why England were the opponents.
“To get Disability players playing at Headingley is one of those dreams come true,” she said.
“It’s all credit to everybody involved, the club, the county board, the ground staff, the volunteers.
“The fact it coincided with the Paralympics was a complete coincidence, but it was lovely because the focus has been on a disability sport.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Pakistani Deaf international fast bowler plays mainstream league cricket for Thongsbridge in Huddersfield and plays for Yorkshire’s D40 Quest team. He also helped the Pirates win the DPL final at Cardiff last Friday with a superb four wickets in the final against Tridents.
“We played the Narendra Modi Stadium with the England PD side over the winter, and there have been other matches at Edgbaston and Lord’s this summer. But this one is the closest to my heart, which makes it much bigger.”
It is no secret that it hasn’t been the easiest period for Yorkshire of late. But they are doing many things right, and Disability Cricket is undoubtedly right up there on that list.
Powell added: “Whatever level you want to play at, whether you are male or female, whatever background you’re from, it makes no difference. Everybody is welcome to come and play cricket in Yorkshire, whether it’s with a hard ball, a soft ball or table cricket. We can offer it all.”
Meanwhile, Yorkshire trio Liam Thomas, Adnan Ghani and Luke Riley were all involved in the ECB’s Disability Premier League T20 final between the Pirates and the Tridents at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Friday just gone.
The Pirates won by 32 runs in defence of their 143-6. Ghani and Thomas were on the winning side, with the former claiming a brilliant 4-18 from four overs, having taken the new ball, as the Tridents were limited to 111-9.
Feature courtesy of ECB Reporters Network.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Yorkshire’s squad prepares to play at Headingley a couple of Fridays ago. Luke Riley, seen on the right, was also one of three Yorkshire players involved in the ECB’s DPL final at Cardiff.
