A closer look at disability cricket in Yorkshire

Players with hearing impairment make up around 1/3 of our squad, with the biggest deaf contingent in Disability County Cricket.

Players with Intellectual impairment, who make up around 40% of our squad, these players have an IQ of less than 75, have adaptive learning challenges and are diagnosed before age of 22.

Players with physical disability, who are assessed against a series of tests, supported by medical evidence to support their application.

The team is made up a mix of the three impairment groups, with quotas to meet on minimum participation. We are required to play at least two players with each impairment. Our cohort is almost exclusively male, although female players are welcome to apply to play.

In recent years Yorkshire have invested time in player development seeing many players progress to Disability Premier League and or International level.

Squads

We maintain 3 County squads for competition across the National Disability competition and are competitive at each level.

S9 - Soft Ball Cricket

We play in the North and Midlands Division in this starter level competition, playing 30 over cricket with an incrediball. Yorkshire Disability Cricket supports players at this level, as their preferred standard or as a stepping stone to hard ball competitions. Our S9 program is managed by Russ Ingram, along with assistance from Level 2 ECB Coach Volunteer, Mark Atkins Sloan. This group are moving to a more participation based model with the focus on people development and providing opportunity for all to play.

D40 Pursuit Cricket (2nd XI)

This team play in the National Competition second tier, where Yorkshire have performed well. This team provides a platform for players to challenge for first team places. The team is managed by Darren Spooner who blends experience with youth and raw talent. In the last 3 years we have focussed on developing young players and providing a safe place to play. We expect to field teams with average age less than 20 throughout the 2026 season. Pursuit level cricket in 40 overs with restrictions, preventing disparate or one sided matches, players have to retire at 75 runs and or 5 wickets in a match.

D40 Quest Cricket (1st XI)

Quest cricket is a National competition with Yorkshire winning at their first attempt in 2023. This team has a mix of regional league cricketers with impairments that qualify for Disability cricket and have talent that is clear to see. Managed by Steve Bamforth with input from Mark Sugden, this team has Disability Premier League players along with Internationals in all 3 impairment categories. We have players who are multiple Ashes winners and are in the Newly formed Mixed Disability Cricket setup for England.

Development Cricket

We have a program, outside of County competition to provide experience and game time for players not making the stating squads. This is a relatively new venture for Yorkshire Disability and sits outside the County competitions, which are supported by the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation. Mark Sugden leads this group as coach and team manager filling an important role in talent development and securing players for the future. We have been invited to play at Arundel Castle again this year with our development team to reward our investment at this level.

Players to watch:

Curtis Sugden (20) - Intellectual Impairment

Disability players to watch in 2026 in our Quest squad are Curtis Sugden, with 1500 run, in all cricket in 2024 and 2025, we expect to see this wicketkeeper batsman improve once again in the Quest competition. Regarded as one of the best keepers in the competition Curtis brings focus and leadership skills to the team.

Owen Morris - Intellectual Impairment

All-rounder Owen Morris continues to improve his game and scored a maiden 100 in 2025 along with being leading wicket taker. We expect another good season from Owen with the bat, establishing a top order place.

Cameron Cooper - Physical Disability

Opening bowler, and in his second season as captain, Cameron leads the attack and we expect him to do well again in 2026. He is an England Lion and a great asset to the team, leading from the front.

Wiliam Baxter - Physical Disability/Intellectual Disability/Deaf

William qualifies for disability cricket in all three impairment categories and can be depended on to deliver his skills with the ball on demand. He is a National champion at Shot Putt, Discus and Javelin and a genuine athlete. He works tirelessly to improve and is an inspiration to many of our senior and junior players.

Harry Backhouse - Hearing Impairment

Harry is new to Disability cricket and has made an immediate impact both on and off the pitch. Scoring runs in our pre-season and opening County game he promises to be a mainstay of our Pursuit team.

Jasper Spooner - Intellectual Impairment

Jasper is another player who improves year on year with his leg spin bowling helping him into our Quest squad as a developing player for 2026. He attends the cricket school at Headingley which poses new challenges for him every day.

James O'Conner - Hearing Impairment

James is returning to disability cricket after two years out with a shoulder injury. He is an Ex-England deaf player and Yorkshire captain with a lot of experience. We expect impact with both bat and ball from James who will be looking to progress throughout the season.

Ollie Wills - Intellectual Impairment

Ollie will lead our Pursuit bowling line up. Improving year on year with a focus on getting our Pursuit squad off to a good start. Highly focussed and bringing character to the team, with his quiet, yet concise delivery of his views. We expect Ollie to push for a Quest place in future years.

Coaches

Our head of hard ball cricket is Mark Sugden, with Russ Ingram looking after our softball teams. They are supported by a team of coaches at all levels. We have just added Kris Turton to our coaching squad to learn more about the Disability Game. All of our coaches are volunteers, with first hand of disability and in many cases lived experience. These are the people that get the game on and make what we do possible.

Engine Room

The teams are supported by the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation and Yorkshire County Cricket club. In addition there is an independent management group, Friends of Yorkshire Disability, who keep the train on the rails. This group take care of player categorisation, finances, fund raising and the growing administration of 21st Century cricket. Ensuring we have all the safeguarding, EDI and governance needed to run the section.

We also have great partners at Higham CC, who host our home matches and support us with sponsorship and fund raising activities.

Future and Aspirational Goals

We would like to see further development in our younger players, providing more game time and opportunity to diverse groups who cannot meet the disability classification to play County cricket. There are a vast number of players with Neurodiverse conditions that need a game to play, these players cannot play County cricket and we would like an offer for them. These players are typically exhibiting features of Autism, ADHD or similar impairments and cannot easily access mainstream cricket.

We have extended our coaching network and have female coaches ready to support disability cricket for female cricketers, who have almost no representation Nationally in the sport. With the right funding partner and time allocated we feel this is a group that we can support now.

We hope to play deaf only cricket this season and are also looking to play a Intellectual Impairment games if we find suitable opposition. We feel there is a gap in Mixed Disability cricket that doesn’t allow each impairment class to show their potential. We have the player cohort to make these impairment based squads a reality and offer more by way of identity for the group.