LONDON: The public face of Australia’s record-breaking off-spinner, Nathan Lyon, is tough and uncompromising. He has never been afraid to engage in a war of words ahead of and during Ashes series with England, or even when England are playing another nation.
Infamously, before the 2017-18 series in Australia he made a bold statement of “ending some English careers” during the series, as he claimed had happened in the previous series in 2013-14. It would be safe to say that his comments over the years have not endeared him to English supporters.
This should not detract from his achievements in Test cricket. Lyon has played 141 Tests for Australia, claiming 567 wickets. This places him sixth in the all-time list of wicket takers in Test match history and second to Shane Warne in Australian history. Lyon is also one of only six cricketers to have made 100 or more consecutive Test appearances.
In 2023, Lyon signed to play for Lancashire County Cricket Club in the 2024 season. However, shortly before the season began, Cricket Australia stipulated that, in order to manage his workload, his involvement should end on July 3.
Lyon, then aged 35, had begun to suffer injuries, notably in the Test against England at Lords in June 2023. He then suffered a severe calf strain on the second day that prevented him bowling any further in not only that match but in the following three Tests.
However, on the fourth day he defied medical advice and hobbled out to bat, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. He returned to fitness and first-class cricket in November 2023.
The appreciation of his indomitable spirit at Lords in June 2023 may have been surprising, given previous attitudes toward him displayed by English supporters.
They may have been even more surprised to learn that his subsequent appearance at Lords, shortly after his spell at Lancashire ended, was as a guest at a 10-over exhibition match for players with visual impairments, followed by a 40-over all-abilities game on Monday, July 24, 2024.
Fellow non-playing guests were England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes and UK-based Australian comedian Adam Hills, who was born without a right foot. Despite a three-week gap since his time at Lancashire ended, Lyon made sure he stayed on to attend the event, watch both matches, join practice with players with visual disabilities and play table cricket.
It is unlikely that many people, at least in England, would have been aware that Lyon’s presence was as Cricket Australia's National Ambassador for Cricketers with a Disability. In the last decade, he has spent time coaching, supporting and learning from participants with hearing, vision and learning disabilities.
It is estimated that 21 percent of Australians live with a disability — the UK proportion is 25 percent. Lyon’s interest at Lords focused on observing how the England and Wales Cricket Board runs its disability cricket portfolio. In particular, he sought to identify if there were any areas of good practice which could be implemented in Australia to encourage more involvement of players with disabilities.
His conclusion was: “It’s pretty similar in most areas, but one area where England focus and do really well is the physical disabilities, such as amputees and getting them involved.”
The all-abilities match comprised players with learning, hearing and physical disabilities. Lyon said: “It was pretty special to see the first match of its kind being played out on the turf at Lord’s.”
It is not clear when and how Lyon became involved with cricket for people with disabilities but his feelings shone through in the following remark: “I feel like there’s so much each and every one of us can learn about everyday things we take for granted, whether it’s crossing the road or driving a car or even walking downstairs.”
This very telling remark made me stop and think. My knowledge of cricket for people with disabilities is scant and I am sure that I am not alone. I am aware that cricket for people with visual and hearing disabilities is played.
In 2024, there was a T20 World Cup for men with visual disabilities. This was followed by a T20 World Cup for women in 2025, in which India beat Nepal in Colombo, where six teams competed. This was the first such event for women, whereas there have been six men’s events between 1998 and 2024, when the hosts, Pakistan, beat Bangladesh. India’s team was denied permission by its government to participate, leaving six teams in contention.
Since 1996, the World Blind Cricket Council has been the body which promotes and administers the game globally. It has 10 full country members, each of which has its own body to organize and administer domestic cricket. In his ambassadorial role in Australia, Lyon used a bat in two Test matches in December 2024 that displayed a sticker which read “A Sport for All,” written in both English and Braille.
Competitions for players with visual disabilities are more prominent compared to contests for those with hearing impairments. There is reference to an interstate match for people with hearing disabilities in 1895 in Australia, a Test match between India, as hosts, and Australia in 1978 and a five-match series between Australia and England in 1992.
Its organizing and promoting body is the Deaf International Cricket Council, formed in 2013, based in Pakistan. There are 14 countries which are members of the DICC, of which 10 are full members and four are associates.
The most recent World Cup was played in March 2024, in T20 format in Sharjah. It involved six teams — Australia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka — with Pakistan emerging as winners. The next deaf cricket World Cup is scheduled to be held in the UAE in late October 2026.
This is planned as a 50-over competition with six teams. Over 500,000 livestream viewers were attracted to the 2024 edition and the DICC is expecting the level of interest to increase significantly in 2026. In 2015, former Australian fast bowler Brett Lee was appointed global brand ambassador for hearing implant maker Cochlear.
Opportunities for women with hearing disabilities to play cricket appear to be more limited than for men. A report in 2023 by UK Deaf Sport and Women in Sport highlighted the significant challenges faced by teenage girls in sport. The key barriers were communication difficulties, lack of inclusive environments and gender bias that discourage participation.
These findings are not unique to the UK. An egregious example of this was Cricket Australia’s decision in January 2025 to not support Deaf Cricket Australia, which had been pushing for a women’s team. The entity had to close and responsibility absorbed into Cricket Australia’s ambit.
There are signs of opportunities developing in India, where the seventh T-10 National Cricket Championship for Deaf women commenced on March 23, 2026. Nine teams competed in the national tournament, which is supported by the national cricket board. By all accounts, it has been a long and hard road to reach this stage.
Laudable efforts to promote and develop cricket for people with disabilities do have accompanying issues. Apart from the imbalance of opportunities between men and women, there are issues with bringing together players with differing disabilities.
The ECB, for example, has been accused of making cricket less inclusive by its decision to merge three England teams into one mixed team for players. This mirrors the ECB’s decision to bring together the separate Physical Disability, Learning Disability and Deaf teams to play as one group in its domestic Disability Premier League.
In this move, the ECB has one cost, one tour fee, one set of expenses and one set of coaching staff. Yet, it creates issues of communication between players with hearing and visual disabilities, some of whom are concerned that opportunities at the elite level will be reduced.
The ECB appears to be the only national board which is promoting pan-disability cricket and seems to aspire to a pan-disability World Cup. It faces opposition from those who argue that the amalgamation of players with different disabilities is contrived and makes the game more exclusionary, the opposite of what its purpose should be.
It is clear that a simple aim of making cricket available to all still faces many obstacles. In the case of cricket for people with disabilities, boards appear to be sending out confusing and discouraging messages to women about their participation and, in England’s case, to players with certain impairments.
Given the significant differences between the types of disability, perhaps amalgamation should not be the way forward. Lyon said that he enjoyed the pan-disability match at Lord’s. It would be interesting to learn what views he reported back to Cricket Australia.
