Cricket Inclusion Champs 2025
Australia’s best cricketers with a disability compete at the Nationals from this Sunday.
The National Cricket Inclusion Championships get underway this weekend in Brisbane, featuring tournaments for athletes with an Intellectual Disability (Mixed), Blind and Low Vision (Mixed), and both men’s and women’s divisions for Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Having fielded a team in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing event in 2019 for the first time in five years, Victoria will be looking for consecutive National titles when they do battle with New South Wales and Queensland.
Meanwhile the best female Blind and Low Vision cricketers from across the country will be split into Green and Gold teams who will compete in a five match series on Sunday and Monday, before some of those players link up with their state’s Mixed Teams for the remainder of the tournament.
Two of those athletes taking part in the Blind and Low Vision series are have talents across multiple sports.
University student Courtney Webeck, the current Blind Tennis singles World Championships finalist, as well as Blind Australian of the Year, will be on Team Green. Courtney skippered the Australian Blind Women’s cricket team to a silver medal at the IBSA Games, and has also represented Australia tennis at the 2023 IBSA Games.
Meanwhile 13 year old Ivy Walker is just getting started in her sports career, and will turn out for the Gold Team in five match series. Ivy attended a national training camp with the Australian Goalball Team in Melbourne just a week before preparing for the Cricket Championships. The NSW high school student is also a talented Vision impaired skier, with ambitions of heading to the Paralympics in that sport.
Ivy was on hand at November’s NSW Sport Awards as the NSW Blind Cricket Team won the Award for Team of the Year with a Disbaility. Also onstage to receive the award was Jennifer Parry, who will combine with Courtney on Team Green.
Streaming of the tournament will be on the Cricket Australia YouTube Channel.
Check out the fixture and results here.