Tri-series win was more than we expected!

Age 25 Team: England Learning Disability

How long have you been playing disability cricket for England?

I’ve been with England for eight years now and I’m enjoying every minute. It’s a lot of hard work, especially towards the build-up to these tours and the tour itself – you play a lot of cricket in a short space of time. But physically and mentally, I still feel like I’m there.

After eight years playing for England do you find it hard to stay motivated?

I find it easy to keep playing and keep myself motivated – it’s second nature to me. It’s what I’m used to and it works with all my training.

As one of the most experienced members of the team, how do you cope with the pressure of performing on the international stage?

I think there’s always pressure playing for your country but I like it. I think you have to embrace it and enjoy it.

How has disability cricket helped you in your everyday life?

The sport has definitely made me more confident – I was always quite shy to say to people what school I went to (Stenning went to a learning disability school). But now I tell everyone where I went to school, and that I play cricket for my country. I’m proud of it. You can’t see a learning disability but playing cricket has really helped me a lot.

What would you say to people with dyslexia who are thinking of taking up cricket?

For people who want to play cricket, go to a club and start playing. I was lucky – I played for my school and then my county and was then scouted by England. But it’s about getting yourself out there to be seen.

You were part of the England team that won the INAS Learning Disability Cricket Tri-Series, beating Australia and South Africa.What was that experience like?

We exceeded our own expectations. Obviously, we wanted to win the tournament but to go unbeaten blew everything out of the water. I think if we did have a bad day, it was only in spells. There were times when we had a bad ten overs or so, but we had time to make up for those. All in all, it was incredible. We couldn’t really have hoped for a better series overall and after all the preparation you put in, it’s great to perform the way we did.

Aside from England, where do you play cricket?

My local team is Old Woking in the Surrey Downs Division Two and at the moment we are top of the league so it’s been going well for us. We’ve got two more league games to go so promotion looks like it’s on the cards.

And what was the reaction of your club teammates after the results in the Tri-Series?

It’s a great atmosphere at the club and all the Woking guys were brilliant with me when I came back from England. They were all really happy and congratulated me for how I got on. They were pretty chuffed for me.