16-year-old Indian-Australian cricketer Shrey Patel of Gaza Cricket Club in South Australia has made his debut for the Australian Deaf Cricket Team.
Four South Australians – Lachlan Wallace and Michael Zannis (National Blind Squad), Shrey Patel (National Deaf Squad) and Jesse Goodman (National ID Squad) – received a national call up for the Commonwealth Bank International Cricket Inclusion Series.
Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia CEO said in a statement:
“I wish the three squads all the best for this series, and I have no doubt they will inspire more people to get involved in the game.”
The series, which will be held at the National Cricket Campus, will see the three Australian national disability squads – deaf, blind, and intellectual disability (ID) – play five T20Is and three ODI matches from 8-17 June.
Australia’s National Deaf and National ID squads will host England.
Shrey, whose family is originally from Gujarat in India, received his cap from former Australian Deaf Cricketer and team manager, Chris Ashenden.
The deaf cricket includes players who have at least 55 decibels of hearing loss – that’s about the volume of normal conversation. No hearing aids or cochlear implants are allowed to be worn on the field of play at any stage. Otherwise, the playing conditions are largely the same as the standard laws of cricket.
Commonwealth Bank’s partnership with Cricket Australia makes cricket the only non-paralympic Australian sport to have fully funded national disability squads.
WATCH VIDEO: The incredible story of Australia’s National Deaf Squad
