Amazed to play for England like my idol Thorpe

THIS WEEK... FRED BRIDGES England Physical Disability, Broadbridge Heath CC

What’s your story?

I have right-sided hemiplegia, which is a kind of cerebral palsy. It means that my right arm and my right leg are not that mobile, so I have to adapt the way that I play cricket to that.

I’m left-arm dominant and I have to make a lot of adjustments when I bat.

I can drive but I just have to have special controls in my car and it’s something I’ve had since birth – I was born two months early and had a stroke at birth.

How did you get into cricket?

My dad got me into the sport and I started playing aged ten when he took over the youth section at Broadbridge Heath – I also spent a few years as a junior playing for Horsham.

Now, I play for Broadbridge Heath on the weekends and I’m just about to enter a busy period this summer because I’m an assistant coach with the Sussex disability set-up.

A lot of my work comes through Horsham District Council and I go into primary schools to coach. When I’m not coaching cricket, I also do some work that involves other sports in local leisure centres.

How did you become an England cricketer?

Back in 2011, we heard that there was talk of putting together an England PD squad, so my dad and I sent off an email to see if I could get a net, and that’s what happened.

I had to go down to Reading to have a trial and from there, the rest is history, I suppose.

To be able to play international cricket is amazing and I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world. I’ve been on three tours to Dubai and one tour to Bangladesh, and I’ve played against countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and India.

When I grew up, my idols were people like Graham Thorpe and I never dreamt that I would play for England as well.

What has been the highlight of your international career so far?

The biggest thing that I’ve done with England would be the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) T20 tournament in Bangladesh, which we went to in 2015.

We lost our first match in that tournament but played a really great brand of cricket and went all the way to the final.

We then beat Pakistan to win it and that competition really helped raise the profile of the PD squad in this country.

We got a lot of praise from people at the ECB and it was definitely my biggest achievement with England to date.

What does the future hold for you and your international career?

At this moment, there isn’t too much of a plan for what’s next with the England PD squad but it’s getting more and more publicity all the time and I think there’ll be some exciting games that we’ll play.

We play against some high-quality opposition domestically and we just want to keep raising the profile of disability cricket internationally as well.