The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is under fire after its decision to merge England’s elite disability cricket teams into a single pan-disability squad. While the ECB has framed this as a progressive move towards inclusion and global leadership, deaf cricketers and other stakeholders are warning that it may actually reduce opportunities and make the sport less accessible.

The Guardian’s exclusive report reveals that two deaf players have already quit in protest over the lack of consultation and concerns that the changes will sideline players from the Deaf and Learning Disability squads in favour of those with physical disabilities. One unnamed Deaf England player stated:

“Deaf cricket enables us all to play our best cricket, because it removes all of the deafness out of it. Pan-disability cricket highlights it, makes it a difference. We’ve hammered home so many different accessibility problems with the DPL, and the ECB haven’t done anything about it.”

Communication remains a major concern, particularly for deaf players. Though the ECB has introduced some sign language training, the same player criticised it as tokenistic:

“It reduces BSL [British Sign Language], a rich language, into a tick-box exercise. You wouldn’t say, ‘a French player has joined us but it’s OK because we’ve all learned how to say bonjour’.”

Dr Ben Powis, a senior lecturer at Bournemouth University and lead author of a new academic study on disability cricket, echoed those concerns. His research found that the Disability Premier League represents a “contrived lumping of athletes together” and that:

“Streamlining these squads means that there will be players with certain impairments who will now be frozen out of international cricket. The ECB have created a system for people to fail in.”

Critics argue that rather than advancing the sport, the ECB’s new model may actually reflect outdated power structures. As one England Deaf player put it:

“It’s colonial, in a way… Deaf cricket is thriving internationally, and it’s the ECB that is falling behind once again.”

While the ECB insists that the new structure will inspire growth and eventually lead to a Disability World Cup, many players remain unconvinced—especially as no other cricketing nation currently operates a pan-disability format.

This is a debate not just about cricket, but about what genuine inclusion looks like in sport. As more voices speak out, the ECB faces growing pressure to reconsider whether one-size-fits-all really fits anyone.

You can read the full Guardian article here