For the first time, the Australian Cricket Team for players with an intellectual disability are set to play in a fully funded ICC tournament, in a positive development for the diversity of the game.
The team is due to fly to England next week, for a three week Tri-Series tournament against England and South Africa, encompassing four T20 matches and four one-day matches plus finals.
The team’s assistant coach coach and former Australian cricketer Julien Wiener, told SEN Afternoons it was a great step forward for the players.
“It’s a wonderful program. For the first time, this team’s going to England fully funded through sponsorship from Commonwealth Bank and of course Cricket Australia, which is an outstanding investment in the game,” he said.
“I was fortunate enough to be part of the management group and one of the selectors. I was at the tournament in Geelong and the thing that struck me the most about this group is how passionate they are about the game.”
“As a group of people involved in the game, the care a lot about each other and I think that’s going to hold us in good stead on our trip.”
The side includes players from across Australia, and Wiener said Cricket Australia was heavily invested in growing the team further.
“There are players from every state – Victoria has five, Queensland has three, Western Australia a couple and there’s a young leg spinner from Tasmania.”
“Every state has its own coordinator and the players have been training hard since the end of the cricket season.”
“Incorporated in that was a training camp in Brisbane at the National Cricket Centre, where they had access to all of the high performance facilities. Nathan Lyon, who’s the ambassador for the program, was available to do some coaching for the players.”
The team’s captain Gavin Hicks, said he was thrilled to see the game grow, with this tournament allowing players access to the high performance opportunities and infrastructure that all international player has access to.
“I’ve been playing cricket since I was six…I always had dad bowling to me and my younger brother in the nets [but] I didn’t know anything about [the side] till they had a thing at Cranbourne for all abilities people,” he said.
“Then they said there’s an opportunity to play for Australia. Back then you had to pay for it all, subsidised by Cricket Australia. But now it’s fully funded.”
“I’ve been in the system 10 years and I never thought it would get to this stage where we didn’t have to pay.”