There is a very, very broad spectrum of autism. You could liken it to someone’s individual batting or bowling style. Everyone is slightly different. I was diagnosed aged four, and the specialist told my mother I’d probably “be institutionalised.” I have issues with processing and perception, and sometimes have meltdowns that can cause physical damage to my belongings. Cricket has played a huge role in helping me control my emotions.
I’m now 40. Since the age of six, I’ve loved cricket. My late beloved mother, Hazel Davies, was going through a tough time at that juncture. She put on the television and the Wisden Trophy was on. I got hooked from there. It was the 1991 series, Graham Gooch’s team up against Viv Richards’s all-conquering West Indies, and it was a two-two draw.
From then on, cricket has been a lifelong interest and preoccupation. As a young boy, I played in the back garden with mum. She was my net bowler back then. When the ball used to go on the garage, she’d jump up and get it without the aid of a ladder.
But I didn’t play senior cricket until I was 33, when I had the time and the emotional energy to play. I saw on the scorecard that Chirk Cricket Club’s second team was short on numbers. I got in touch with the captain, Ian Skinner. I went for a coffee with him and my mother in Wrexham, and he very much shared my ethos and outlook on cricket.
When I played my first game, it was very eventful. I took a catch and celebrated like an even more exuberant version of Imran Tahir. I wish it was filmed. The whole club was there that day, and I won the trophy for 2018 Champagne Moment just for that game.
Ian Skinner and Chirk CC have both shown the way to make cricket more accommodating for those with autism. They communicate clearly, with no ambiguity. They set boundaries about pick-up times, my role in the team, and don’t make any false promises. They understand appropriate game situations to bring me on, to make sure I’m valued and understood, and they’ve quickly learned lessons if there have been any errors made in managing my autism.
Managing people with autism is about understanding the condition. To me, for example, non-sequential comments might make ideal sense. To others, it could look like I’m committing a social faux pas. I, and some others with autism, process matters very differently. Information can either be processed too slowly, or too quickly, and overexcitement can also occur.
Test cricket, with its different flows, is like the best representation of life. It can go on a straight line, nothing happens for a while, then bang – three wickets in an hour, or 80 runs in eight overs – and then it’s back down again. It’s the best representation of life’s ups and downs. When I’m watching Test cricket, all of life’s mental stresses and demands just seamlessly go away. It also gives me a focus, sometimes too much of a focus, where everything else is in the periphery.
Over the years, I’ve become less and less tribal about all sports and the teams involved. I can just enjoy sport, especially cricket, in its purest form.