High praise for England victory in Bangladesh

The England Physical Disability squad’s victory last week in the first ever ICRC International T20 Tournament for people with physical disabilities has been hailed by ECB Chief Executive Officer Tom Harrison as an outstanding achievement.

Tom Harrison said: “We congratulate Iain and all the players on their superb tournament win in Bangladesh. Today’s victory against a strong Pakistan side represents another significant step forward for our national  disability squads and follows the Learning Disability squad’s 5-1 series win in Australia earlier this year.

“This ground-breaking competition has proved to be a marvellous showcase for disability cricket and we would like to thank the International Committee of the Red Cross for being such excellent tournament hosts and the Bangladesh Cricket Board for their whole-hearted support.”

Iain Nairn’s side overcame Pakistan by 19 runs in the final of the five-team competition. This, the first multi-national physical disabilities competition of its kind, was supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Callum Flynn (45) and Fred Bridges (4-24) were the outstanding individual performers for England who progressed to the final with wins over Afghanistan, India and Pakistan in the round-robin matches after an early loss against the host nation.  Flynn was subsequently named Batsman and Player of the Series at the conclusion of the week-long tournament.

The staging of this week’s tournament represented the successful culmination of a wider partnership between the ECB, the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to widen opportunities for disability cricketers in Bangladesh and create the country’s first national PD squad.

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