By Michael Pulford
A very frustrating year for the Yorkshire Deaf county cricket team as Covid 19 caused the cancellation of two indoor inter-county competitions, in March and October, all practices and the hoped for revival of the ‘Roses’ match.
However, Darren Talbot, CEO of the England Cricket Association for the Deaf, managed to successfully introduce regional cricket and some Yorkshire Deaf players were able to represent the North team in matches against two club sides, Great Budworth (Cheshire) and Notton (Wakefield), and then in a Regional Deaf T20 at Budworth (Coventry). The club matches helped improve the North side and they went on to beat both the Midlands and the South to win the Deaf event!
The Yorkshire players in the successful North team were Mohammed Sufyaan, Edward Denton, Mohammed Owais, Jamie Dillon and Chris Schofield. Chris, who played for England Under 19s and also made one appearance for the full Yorkshire CCC team in 1996, coached and played in the regional competition.
The success was also due to the work of the player-manager Derek Grabham and the captain, Jimmy Dixon, (both Lancashire).
Yorkshire and the North are always looking for more Deaf players. Please contact Michael Pulford at [email protected] if you are a cricketer with a hearing loss, and either use speech or British Sign Language as your main form of communication.
