THE Somerset Disabled Cricket Club formed in 1997 is now one of the strongest teams in the country, as well as managing to provide opportunities for individuals of all ages and abilities and all types of physical and learning disabilities.

Julian Bellew, who was the driving force behind its formation in 1997, has talked about how the club came into being.

“I went to a special school for disabled children, and I played cricket with all my mates at every break and lunch time,” he said. “However when we left school, that opportunity was no longer there, so, a few of us started playing together.

“I was a massive Somerset fan and had been a member for many years and thought it would be great if we could play disabled cricket for the county that I loved.

“I wrote to Peter Anderson, the Somerset chief executive at the time, and he put the letter on the desk of a man named Andrew Moulding who worked for Somerset Cricket Board.

“Andrew suggested we hold a taster day and we invited people to come along to the Centre of Excellence and waited to see who would turn up.

“Myself, Andrew Moudling and an amazing man by the name of Dan Hodges nervously waited to see who would come but we were inundated! Forty-five came through the door.”

“We then started doing regular winter coaching sessions and sometimes we were fortunate a few of the Somerset pros would pop into the sessions and give us some advice. In our second year there was probably about half a dozen counties playing disabled cricket and there were some national eight-a-side tournaments so we started competing in those.

“Back then we had one squad of players and eventually we managed to get some fixtures for a Second XI, but now there are so many more opportunities. We had 97 people at our end of season dinner this year. That just shows that the County Club and the Foundation have taken it to the next level.

“The Foundation, and Steve Gass in particular, are doing an incredible job of raising the profile of disability cricket and by doing so they are helping to increase participation. They are creating opportunities to enable far more people to get involved and I can’t speak highly enough of the work that Steve and the Foundation are doing.”

Since it’s formation, Somerset Disabled CC now has three teams: Dragons, Super and D40.