Middlesex's Umesh Valjee MBE will captain a 14-player England Deaf squad for a One-Day International series and two Twenty20 international matches against South Africa in Pretoria later this month.
Head Coach Bobby Denning will lead the squad of players, who must have a hearing loss of 55 decibels or more in their better ear to be eligible to play international deaf cricket. They will be based at Sinovich Park in Pretoria for all six matches. England Deaf will play two warm up games against Derbyshire County League Under-25s on Sunday (August 18) at Denby Cricket Club and the MCC on Monday (August 19) at Chesterfield Cricket Club before departing for South Africa on August 22.
Head of Disability Cricket Ian Martin said: "This is the first international series that our Deaf Cricketers have played since their successful tour to Australia in January 2011. During that tour we defeated South Africa in both short formats of the game in a Tri-Series and that is something that we aim to repeat. The squad contain a mixture of youth and experience with Jake Oakes, Joel Harris, Henry Wainman and Sam Crichard all touring for the first time while they are led by the vastly experienced Umesh Valjee. This is the first international disability cricket series since our national disability squads moved into the England Cricket Department and I am looking for our deaf team to get the new tenure off to a winning start."
England Deaf squad for South Africa internationals
Umesh Valjee (Middlesex) captain
Paul Allen (Derbyshire)
Michael Weathersby (Wales)
James Schofield (Wales)
James Dixon (Lancashire)
Jake Oakes (Yorkshire)
Joel Harris (Cheshire)
Henry Wainman (Yorkshire)
Stephen George (Devon)
George Greenway (Devon)
Saul Allison (Kent)
Matt Clinton (Cumbria)
Darrell Sykes (Yorkshire)
Sam Crichard (Herefordshire)
England Deaf fixtures
Sunday, August 18, 50 over game v Derbyshire County League Under-25s at Denby Cricket Club
Monday, August 19, 50 over game v MCC at Chesterfield Cricket Club
International matches against South Africa Deaf
(All matches will be played at Sinovich Park, Pretoria)
Wednesday, August 28, 1st ODI
Friday, August 30, 2nd ODI
Sunday, September 1, 1st and 2nd T20
Wednesday, September 4, 3rd ODI
Saturday, September 7, 4th ODI
For information on disability cricket go to www.ecb.co.uk/disabilitycricket