England Disability Captain previews a historic series

Callum Flynn, England Men's first-ever mixed disability captain, hopes a historic 2025 summer can continue the sport's rapid growth.

Flynn, 30, is preparing to lead the squad in the first of seven T20 internationals with India, starting at  Taunton on Saturday (June 21).

For the first time at international level, the team will combine physical and learning disability cricketers (PD and LD) with deaf players.

"Anytime you get asked to captain your country is great, to get asked again with another squad and to get the appreciation from the management and coaching staff is another thrilling moment," Flynn, previously the PD skipper, told The Cricketer.

"Captaincy comes very naturally to me, but there's always the added pressure going into an international series and the challenge that comes with the three impairments merging together.

"The leadership and communication have to be zoned in because it has to be absolutely bang on with the deaf and LD (learning disability) groups."

The Lancastrian touch-playing top-order batter has also captained the Hawks in the Disability Premier League (DPL) – the ECB franchise-style pan-disability competition - the final of which has been staged as a double-header with an England T20 international in the last two years.

"Obviously, it helps playing on Sky before, but I'll tell the boys, 'take it all away', get to the ground and do what you need to do to take in the occasion.

"But as soon as we meet as a team, that's when you switch off from all the environment and remember it's a game of cricket. It's special to play at Lord's and on Sky, but we're there for a game of cricket, but having the exposure of playing on Sky will definitely help."

The challenge facing Flynn is to bring players with varying disabilities together on the field, communicate with them and balance a unique set of rules.

"Hopefully the lads agree, but I think I've done alright [captaining the mixed groups]. When you're on the field, there are obviously time limits you have to bowl your overs in, so when you're trying to get someone's attention and they're walking in the opposite direction and wait to get their notice.

"It's even more thinking, more strenuous as a captain. It's more tactical, you have to play match-ups, sneak an over in here and there."

A minimum requirement of three of each impairment group in a playing XI and a minimum of five overs to be bowled by each group are among the regulations for this series.

"When we're picking the XI, someone who you'd expect to play might have to be left out to balance the logistics of the rules and impairment allocations because we need two proper bowlers from each group in case someone goes round the park, so finding the balance is going to be tricky. India will have the same challenges, and hopefully it balances out."

Despite Flynn having to battle his PD teammate and former Sussex professional pathway player, Liam O'Brien, for the captaincy, the 30-year-old has enjoyed the process. But being a disability international is anything but plain sailing.

"We only average 30-40 days together a year," he lamented. "It's tough because you go away for a few weeks, then together for a few days, so you try to build relationships between the impairments and you're managing work, personal life and other commitments.

"We're trying to be elite athletes while being held back by living club cricket lifestyles, which of course we need to try think of ourselves as England cricketers but it's hard when you've got to get up for work and try to get gym in between seeing your kids, it's hard work.

"The pride of representing England and coming together to try to beat India this summer makes it worthwhile."

Some good preparation gives Flynn reason to believe winning the series - which he expects to "be the best standard disability cricket has to show" - is realistic, but warns India are "so skilled at what they do".

Significant junctures during the series will include the third T20I becoming the first disability international staged at Lord's as part of Disability Cricket Day on June 25, and the sixth match being shown live on Sky Sports from Bristol on July 1.

But these moments are part of a wider journey for the disability code.

"We don't play enough disability cricket to not play club cricket," Flynn explained. "In a dream world, it'd just be England disability cricket more or less every weekend, but I think we're a few years off that, and the journey is there and we're pioneering our way to that pathway.

"I'd love to see us go professional. I don't think it'll happen in my career, but I hope to be looked back on with the rest of the boys as pioneers, knocking the walls down and building the structure, hopefully other people can benefit from it and maybe even a proper dream job from it."

England's squad contains seven PD players, and eight more who have a learning disability or who are deaf. Omissions include England deaf captain, George Greenway, as well as Hawks DPL winning duo and England PD stalwarts Alex and Hugo Hammond.

India are an opponent England have faced frequently in the latter stages of competitions within the PD and deaf disciplines games.

"It's going to be difficult, their deaf lads beat ours and their PD lads beat ours [most recently]," he added.

"India have never had a learning disability side, so they would've had to go out and find LD players to fulfil the squad, so it'll be just as tricky and bringing the three squads together, you're always going to have the challenges of gelling."

Published in The Cricketer: https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/premium/landmark_summer_beckons_england_men_disability__cricket.html