The first ever county v county cricket fixtures for deaf cricket takes place this weekend in an event which promises to open up new opportunities for deaf cricket in the UK.
The England Cricket Association for the Deaf (ECAD) are pleased to announce that they are staging their inaugural ECAD T20 Cup this Sunday – 6th July 2014.
The event will be staged at Rokeby School Playing Fields, River Hill, Old Malden in Surrey, and will see Surrey Deaf, Lancashire Deaf and an ECAD Development XI compete in a triangular tournament scheduled to be played across the day with the opening fixture starting at 10.30am.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s action, Chris Ratcliffe, Chairman of ECAD, said: “The English Cricket Association for the Deaf is delighted to see the first county v county fixture for deaf cricket and we are grateful to Surrey CCC and Lancashire CCC for making this possible.
“For talented deaf cricketers this is a great opportunity for them to be noticed with the view to breaking into the England Deaf Cricket set up’
Stuart Cope of Surrey Deaf Cricket, said: “It is refreshing to see that cricket has moved on so much over the last few years, the sport is making strides in breaking down barriers to become inclusive for all.
“Surrey CCC are committed to offering opportunities for all participants within South London and throughout the county and I would like to personally thank all involved within our deaf county cricket club who have worked so tirelessly to form a professional all year round programme.
“Our aim is to provide England with as many players as possible and hopefully we can continue to do these for many years to come in every area of the game.”
The ECAD T20 Cup ECAD T20 Cup gets underway at 10.30am on Sunday with the first match being played between Surrey Deaf and Lancashire Deaf. The ECAD Development XI then take to the field to face Lancashire Deaf at 1.30pm, with ECAD Development XI returning to complete matters when they face Surrey Deaf at 4.30pm.
In closing, Ratcliffe added, “We hope that other County Cricket boards will take note and go on to create development opportunities for deaf cricketers to compete against one another.”
