London. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has proposed to the BCCI to form two national disabled teams. ECB secretary Richard Gould has written a letter to his counterpart Jai Shah, asking for a team – one for the visually impaired (blind) and one combined (physically handicapped, intellectually disabled and hearing impaired) – to help popularise the sport among communities.
Currently, in India, there is the Differently Abled Cricket Council of India (DCCI), which is a sub-committee of the BCCI, but the Indian board does not organise any tournaments independently. Some discussions will take place during the ICC Annual Conference in Colombo, where Gould is scheduled to attend the Chief Executives’ meeting.
Gold wrote in his letter that we propose to the Board to operate two international teams – a Blind XI as a standalone format and then an all-disability format consisting of teams of deaf, intellectually disabled and physically disabled cricketers. We would be keen and willing to host the inaugural all-disability tournament involving our five countries in 2025. The ICC is keen to show collective support for this vision to ensure that any move is member-driven.
The letter was also addressed to Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley, PCB COO Salman Naseer and CSA CEO Fletsi Moseki. Gold has said that global disability cricket is unstructured, irregular and often unsupported. Disability cricket has many different rules – blind, deaf, intellectual disability and physical disability and there has been a widespread lack of coordination and strategy across all four.
Gold further wrote, “This has not been an area of sport that we have collectively prioritised and although financial restrictions are as widely felt as ever, now is the time for us to come together to promote disability sport.” There are currently 1.3 billion people living with various disabilities around the world and Gold believes this is an untapped market that needs to be reached.
It is learned that DCCI chief Ravi Chauhan will be in Sri Lanka to participate in the discussions as he has been the bridge between his committee and the BCCI.
