The England Physical Disabilities Cricket squad are challenging themselves to complete a marathon a day as they keep their fitness while waiting for the season to begin – and they will looking to fundraise for the Lord’s Taverners at the same time.

The squad, which enjoyed a successful 2019 in finishing as runners up in Physical Disability World Series, have pledged to complete a combined 26 mile target everyday while at the same time looking to support the leading youth and disability sport charity, whose Super1s and Table Cricket programmes allow thousands of young people living with disabilities to enjoy sport and help fulfil their potential.

The England squad is made up of 14 players, although two are currently unable to exercise outside of the house due to underlying health conditions, and while they cannot play as a squad, it’s not stopping them from sharing their training efforts and looking to complete their own 2.6 Challenge by collectively completing 26 miles a day for at least 10 days.

Acting as a spokesman for the squad, all-rounder Callum Flynn explained that his team mates wanted to play their part to support the charity which last year worked with more than 12,000 disadvantaged and disabled young people. He said: “We had a great season last year and disability cricket around the world is going from strength to strength. So as you can imagine, when we can safely take to the field again, we can’t wait to get back playing. We’re all training really hard for the season ahead and although we need to do that in isolation, we wanted to do something as a squad that will hopefully help further raise the profile of disability cricket and also the fantastic work of the Lord’s Taverners.

“Many of the players in the squad know of the great work of the charity through their disability cricket programmes and some of us are involved with them, so we thought this would be a great way to bring the two things together. It’s our own version of the 2.6 challenge and we’re looking as a group to complete a marathon a day. It would be amazing if we could raise some money to support the Lord’s Taverners and their life changing work with thousands of young people across the country.”

The Lord's Taverners is the UK's leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. It breaks down barriers and empowers disadvantaged and disabled young people to fulfil their potential and build life skills. It’s cricket programmes support some of the most marginalised and at-risk young people in the UK using sport and recreation to build links between communities and encouraging groups to play sport together.  It provides a lifeline for some of the most at-risk communities in the UK and tackle issues such as knife crime, unemployment, radicalisation and also isolation…something we are all feeling right now. But without its programmes, many of the participants would experience this all year round.

People of all ages are taking on the 2.6 Challenge with a host of activities – from walking, running or cycling 2.6 miles, juggling for 2.6 minutes, tapping a ball up in the air with your cricket bat 26 times, to holding online workouts with 26 friends. The challenge has been set up to support thousands of charities in the UK during these difficult times.

The England players taking part in the challenge are: Callum Flynn, Liam Thomas, Angus Brown, Jamie Goodwin, Matt Askin, Jordan Williams, Liam O’Brien, Will Flynn, Ben Sutton, Ali Layard, Ben Tyler, Danny Hamm, Fred Bridges, James Nordin.

If you would like to know more about the Lord’s Taverners or support their work, please visit www.lordstaverners.org