ECB Annual Report & Accounts 2006 - Roll of Honour

PICTURES
1 Somerset, winners of the Incrediball
Championship.
2 Pete Ackerley, ECB’s Head of Development,
presents the Incredi-Ball Championship trophy.
1
DISABILITIES CRICKET Review 2006
The past 12 months have seen successful advances in
the development of cricket for people with disabilities. The
ECB Disability Management Committee is re-structuring
the management of the game to reflect the new regional
structure for cricket. As a result a full programme of
local and regional club cricket leagues and knock-out
competitions for each impairment group have taken place
for Blind, Deaf, Physical Disabilities and Learning Difficulties.
In June 2007 England will host the ECB Tri-Nations
Tournament for cricketers with Learning Difficulties against
South Africa and Australia. Matches will be played at the
Hampshire Rose Bowl, Lords, Hove and Arundel. In August
2007, the Indian Blind team visit England for a series.
Matches will take place at Worcester New Road. The
England Deaf team is preparing for an Ashes series in 2008.
2
The Coaching and Coach Education strategy for Cricketers
with Disabilities will seek to increase the number of qualified
coaches who have the additional skills to coach people
with visual hearing, physical or learning disabilities. This will
be supported by coaching aids in cd rom, video and audio
format for each disability area.
In 2006 the County Championship for physical and
learning difficulties was split between a Hardball
championship and an Incrediball championship. The
Isle of Wight won the Hardball championship defeating
Lancashire, while Somerset won the Incrediball
championship final against Shropshire.
The Blind Cricket World Cup was held in Islamabad in
December 2006 with eight countries competing initially in
a round-robin format leading to the semi-finals and final.
England lost to India by five wickets at the semi-final stage
but finished third because they had beaten the other losing
semi-finalists, Australia, in the group stage.
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2006
20
Three of the team received individual awards at the closing
ceremony. 18-year-old wicket-keeper Dan Field, who had
won just four caps before the World Cup, won the award
for best wicket-keeper at the tournament. Totally blind
player Nathan Foy won best fielder at the competition
while England captain and the most capped player in
international blind cricket history, Heindrich Swanepoel,
claimed best runner between the wickets.
England’s Deaf team were due to take on Pakistan in two
Test matches, three one-day internationals and a Charity
20/20 spectacular in August 2006, but poor weather
disrupted the schedule. England shared the spoils with
Pakistan in the first Test at Gidea Park, Romford. The first
one-day international was won by the tourists, but England
claimed a 51-run victory over their Pakistan counterparts
in a swiftly arranged Twenty20 friendly at Sittingbourne
after heavy overnight rain had led to the cancellation of the
second one-day international.
International Disabilities Cricket
England Deaf Cricket Team
Test Series v Pakistan Drew 0-0
ODI Series v Pakistan Drew 1-1
England Blind Cricket Team
World Cup
England Learning Disabilities Team
No international fixtures for 2006
Disabilities – domestic
British Hard Ball Disabilities
County Championship
British Incredi-Ball Disabilities
County Championship
Semi-Finalists
Isle of Wight
Somerset