St Georges ace Dave Hassall has been named as Player of the Year by the Shropshire Disabled Cricket Association.
The award was made at the SDCA’s pre-indoor season coaching session and awards ceremony for the 2016 season which was held at the Sundorne Games Hall in Shrewsbury.
SDCA secretary Graham Furber said: “Dave deservedly took the honours as player of the year for his performances for St Georges in the league during 2016 and his overall contribution to supporting disability cricket within Shropshire.
“Dave has inspired, supported and coached team-mates in the disabled team at St Georges and also acts as team manager for both Cricket Shropshire's Disability representative teams (Super 9s and D40).”
The SDCA runs a winter indoor league for cricketers with disabilities. Currently, the league comprises of three teams who play in an indoor cricket format over the winter months.
These teams are St Georges, a combined Oswestry/Shrewsbury team (comprising of disability cricketers within this area) and The Dragons (comprising of disability cricketers from the North Wales area).
The annual pre-season coaching session is an opportunity for the SDCA to both welcome new disability cricketers to participate in the league and celebrate achievements of players over the course of the year.
Graham, who organised the day, was delighted with the turnout at Sundorne with several newcomers attending and expressing an interest in being involved in participating in disability cricket.
He delivered a fun coaching along with supporting coaches that included an introduction to wicket-keeping and off-spin bowling followed by an exciting match to conclude the session.
The SDCA are keen to support and provide opportunities for any new cricketers with disabilities that are interested in getting involved in playing the game.
Alongside this, Cricket Shropshire works closely with the SDCA in order to offer further opportunities to grow disability cricket within the county.
If anyone wishes to get involved with teams playing in the Shropshire Disabled Cricket Association or is interested in Disability Cricket more generally please contact either Graham Furber via email graham.furber@yahoo.com or Ed Ashlin (Cricket Development Officer), email: edashlinscb@btconnect.com or phone 07447 629537.