Though England has a County Championship for players with physical and learning disabilities, cricketers in this squad also feature in mainstream club competitions, much like their Australian counterparts. It’s said a lot that sport changes lives and it’s never more apparent than with these guys.” “Their success on the field breeds self-confidence and self-esteem, which they take into their life. “Typically with guys with intellectual impairment there’ll be low self-esteem, a lack of self-confidence,” he says, “and you can actually see these guys change over time through their involvement in the sport.
With guidance from within the same system that supports the big-name professionals, Martin says it is rewarding to see the personal transformation in some players. The toughest part for Martin was telling players from the elite pool of 28 contenders that they hadn’t made the final squad. “We took a view that if we were going to have sides going out and representing England then it’s far better to have them under the ECB umbrella.” No detail is spared in identifying and preparing England players for international tours such as this one. “The ECB were behind it from the start,” says Martin.
They hope that with time and funding, other countries will join in too. Starting with nothing, this Anglo-Australian alliance has driven the project ever since. The genesis of the inaugural Inas tournament was a 2004 conversation between Martin, a South African Winston Stubbs and Robyn Smith, the CEO of Ausrapid, an organisation set up 29 years ago to increase sporting and recreational opportunities for Australians with integration disabilities.
The man behind this slick, professional setup is Ian Martin, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s head of disability cricket.Įnglish batsman Dan Bowser in action at the Inas Cup.
The England squad, decked out in their Waitrose-sponsored Adidas kits, benefit from a host of support staff coaches, physios and when they’re back home, dieticians as well as a strength and conditioning coach. Though Australia won three of the first four Inas championships, England are the current title holders after their 2011 win. Running alongside the Inas tournament this time is the Blind Cricket national championships and on Monday, a Deaf Cricket exhibition match too, making it the first time players from such diverse backgrounds have been brought together to compete simultaneously. Both sides comprise talented cricketers with intellectual disabilities. Since 2005 the tournament has been played as a bi-annual tri-series between Australia, England and South Africa but the latter didn’t make the trip this time, turning it into a virtual Ashes encounter. This week the Pattison brothers are on national duty for the first time as part of Australia’s squad for the Inas International All Abilities Cricket Championships in Melbourne. On account of their backyard encounters at home, Neil says the lawn is looking a little threadbare these days. Both bat right-handed and field with a dedicated zeal, launching their wiry frames into every single pre-game training drill.
Ben is a left-arm paceman (“he’s only just learning how to hold the ball properly and swing it,” says Neil) and Adam is a left-arm chinaman spinner in the mould of Michael Bevan. The Pattisons play outdoors too, alongside their old man at Western Youth CC in Adelaide’s suburban cricket ranks.īoth brothers are tall, agile and whippet-thin. By high school they were working their way up the ranks of various local indoor leagues (“they started getting too good for comp,” says Neil) before last year making the grade for their state in the Lord’s Taverners Shield, the next instalment of which they’ll figure in by July. Which is which, though? Neil has occasionally heard the pair talking about the game in their sleep, so perhaps they’re both Steve.Īt 49 Pattison Sr is a club cricketer himself, which he thinks is what provided the spark for his boys to embrace the game. Their father Neil likens them to another famous set of Australian cricket brothers, the Waughs. If they’re not playing it the South Australian brothers are training and if they’re not training they’re talking about it. Cricket is life for 21-year-old identical twins Adam and Ben Pattison.