England Visually Impaired head coach John Cook has named 15 players to tour the UAE for their six-match IT20 series against Pakistan in Ajman, starting on 12 November.

Somerset’s Ed Hossell will lead the team against the 2017 Blind T20 World Cup runners up. In that competition, Pakistan defeated England in the semi-final, with seven of the players from that match selected in this squad.

Five players from each of the classifications have been chosen. Each XI must contain four players from B1 (totally blind), three from B2 (partially blind) and four from B3 (partially sighted).

Cook said: “I’m excited to be able to select such a great group of players for our series against Pakistan. Our opposition are a formidable team when it comes to Visually Impaired cricket and will provide a stern test to our players.

Ian Martin, ECB Head of Disability Cricket, said: “We’ve had an incredible year of disability cricket and I look forward to our VI team doing the nation proud against Pakistan.

“England’s Physical Disability side finished second in this summer’s World Series, while the Learning Disability team whitewashed Australia in Brisbane last month. We know Pakistan are an excellent side and provide us an exciting challenge.” 

England Visually Impaired squad for the series against Pakistan:

B1:

Amin Afshari
Peter Blueitt
Nathan Foy
Josh Nonet-Black
Darren Paddick

B2:

Matt Dean
Justin Hollingsworth (Vice Captain)
Nathan Jameson
Gareth Jones
Sam Murray

B3:

Asif Ali
Dan Field
Ed Hossell (Captain)
Jimmy Millard
Andy Powers

Fixtures:

Monday 12 Nov: 1st IT20 v Pakistan – Ajman Oval
Tuesday 13 Nov: 2nd IT20 v Pakistan – Ajman Oval
Wednesday 14 Nov: 3rd IT20 v Pakistan – Ajman Oval (D/N)
Friday 16 Nov: 4th IT20 v Pakistan – Ajman Oval
Saturday 17 Nov: 5th IT20 v Pakistan – Ajman Oval
Sunday 18 Nov: 6th IT20 v Pakistan – Ajman Oval (D/N)