County Disability Awards 2022

The County Disability Cricket Awards were held on Monday 12th September at The 1st Central County Ground after a two-year absence due to Covid-19.

The event was the first time all three squads - Sussex Visually Impaired (VI) Sharks, Sussex D40 and the Super 9s Development squad - had come together to celebrate their achievements.

The evening was attended by 70 guests including players, family members, coaches, sponsors, Webtrends Optimize, and Rob Andrew (Chief Executive, Sussex Cricket), Gary Wallis-Tayler (Community Cricket Director) and Jon Filby (Chair, Sussex Cricket).

The evening kicked off with a review of the highlights from the 2022 season presented by Disability Cricket Manager, Aroop Tanna. These included:

• Webtrends Optimize signing a two-year agreement as lead sponsor for the D40 & VI Sharks squads
• All 3 squads training in the Aerotron Indoor School​ during the winter for the first time
• 7 players transitioning from Super 1s community disability clubs to play for representative cricket for the Super 9s
• Sussex becoming the first County Cricket Board to host a D40 National League fixture at a first-class venue​
• Sussex VI Sharks becoming Blind Cricket England & Wales (BCEW) League 1 champions
• Two Sussex representatives invited to play in the ECB’s Disability Premier League​ 

This was followed by the presentation of individual awards. The full list of award winners are:

• D40 Club Award 2021 – Meg Loveland, presented by Jon Filby, Chair Sussex Cricket
• D40 Most Improved Player 2021 – Dan Gee, presented by Jon Filby
• D40 Player of the Year 2021 – Alfie Pyle, presented by Jon Filby
• D40 Club Award 2022 – Ethan Turner, presented by Rob Andrew, CEO Sussex Cricket
• D40 Most Improved Player 2022 – Josh Dixon, presented by Rob Andrew
• D40 Player of the Year 2022 – Dan Gee, presented by Rob Andrew
• Super 9s Club Award 2022 – George Adams
• Super 9s Most Improved Player 2022 – Harry Phelps, presented by Gary Wallis-Tayler, Community Cricket Director Sussex Cricket
• Super 9s Player of the Year 2022 – Leif Collimore, presented by Gary Wallis-Tayler
• Sussex VI Sharks Club Award 2022 – Ian Morris, presented by Rob Andrew
• Sussex VI Sharks Most Improved Player 2022 – Callum Weir, presented by Ben Charlesworth, Webtrends Optimize eCommerce Director
• Sussex VI Sharks B1 (Totally Blind) Player of the Year 2022 – Dave Daniels, presented by Ben Charlesworth
• Sussex VI Sharks Partially-Sighted Player of the Year 2022 – Alex Towers – unable to attend

The awards concluded with a couple of special awards. A gift was presented to Richard Wolff, for his selfless contribution as Volunteer Manager for the D40 and Super 9s squads.

The guests also got to see the premiere of short film capturing Sussex making history in becoming the first county to host a D40 League fixture at a first-class venue.

The film also captured the magnificent century from Alfie Pyle, the first Sussex D40 player to reach this milestone in the club’s history.

Matt Smith, Webtrends Optimize CEO then presented Alfie with the match ball and a signed shirt commemorating his 162 runs against Surrey.

Gary Wallis-Tayler, Community Cricket Director, commented on the celebration: “This event was extremely important to everyone connected to Sussex Cricket. To be able to celebrate another successful year with all three of our County Disability Teams, was a special moment.

“I would like to congratulate all our award winners along with our team, volunteers & sponsors, Webtrends Optimize, who make Disability Cricket the success it is in Sussex.”

To find out more about Disability Cricket in Sussex please visit our website or contact our Disability Cricket Manager, Aroop Tanna on aroop.tanna@sussexcricket.co.uk