Disability cricket: formats and who runs them.

The ECB's five formats

On 3 December 2024 the ECB's Head of Disability Cricket, Ian Martin, said the board currently runs five formats of disability cricket:

• PD (physical disability) cricket;
• Learning Disability cricket;
• Deaf cricket;
• Blind cricket;
• Wheelchair cricket.

The playing rules of each format were not part of our research, so this page does not describe how any of them differ from the standard game.

The Pan-Disability series

In the same announcement, the ECB said England Men and India Men would play a Pan-Disability IT20 series in June and July 2025. Each side's XI was to be drawn from its Learning Disability, Physical Disability and Deaf squads, on the model of the UK's Disability Premier League. The ECB suggested that, if the trial worked, international disability cricket could concentrate on two formats: Pan-Disability and Blind cricket. Results of that series are not covered on this page.

International competition

A search-result summary of an ICC page describes a Physical Disability World Cricket Series staged by the ICC in 2019. We could not open the page, so the details are unconfirmed and are not given here. No ICC rule or programme document for disability cricket was found in our research, and the governing body for international blind cricket was not researched.

How the Laws allow adapted games

The MCC's Laws of Cricket (2017 Code 4th Edition, 2026) are written so that organisers can adapt the game. The MCC's preface says leagues and governing bodies add their own playing regulations on top of the Laws, usually leaving the fundamentals unchanged. Within the Laws themselves:

• Law 1.1 lets sides agree to have more or fewer than eleven players, though no more than eleven may field at once;
• Law 13.1 leaves the number of innings and any limit by overs or time to agreement before the match;
• Law 4.6 leaves the size of ball to the governing body for the match, and Law 6.6 leaves the junior pitch length to the national governing body.

Whether a particular disability format uses any of these is a matter for that format's own rules, which our research did not cover.

Where disability teams appear in ECB rules

• Helmets. The ECB's Head Protector Regulations 2022 covered England international teams, including Lions, the women's pathway and under-19 sides, but not the visually impaired teams. Helmet rules are on the helmet rules by body page.
• Concussion, professional level. The ECB's Professional and Elite Academy Concussion Guidelines (current on the ECB site in 2026) apply to England's men's, women's and disability senior teams among others.
• Concussion, recreational level. The ECB's recreational concussion guidelines (2025 copy) say they apply to people of all ages in recreational cricket, including disabled players, and that disabled players may need a longer initial rest period.

The concussion rules themselves, by body and level, are on the concussion by board page. Any suspected concussion needs assessment by a qualified medical professional.

What we could not confirm

• The rules of each ECB disability format.
• The 2019 ICC Physical Disability World Cricket Series, beyond a search summary.
• Who governs blind cricket internationally.

For the formats and boards that run mainstream cricket, see formats and national boards.