First published in issue 14 of Wisden Cricket Monthly.

It’s paradoxical, given how tough and unsparing it can be, that disability cricket continues to confront issues of ‘credibility’. As Ian Martin, ECB’s head of the game, wearily attests, “It’s one of the battles we have”.

Plenty marvelled at the clip of Liam Thomas, fielding in the deep for England’s physical disability (PD) side against Pakistan a couple of years back, losing his prosthetic leg before returning a pinpoint throw over the stumps. But that in itself is part of the ongoing challenge for mainstream acceptance – do those internet shares and retweets tell us more about the appreciation of Thomas’ extraordinary balance and fielding skill, or some vague perception of his ‘bravery’?

Viewed like that, it appears to be the ultimate backhanded compliment to a bloke just getting on with his job. He said himself he couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

Tough love holds no fears for him. Five months since that international debut, his club teammates have yet to be totally convinced when he tells them that England – and certainly Pakistan – would give them a game. But he’s working on it. “There’s still a bit of a stigma around the level,” he says, “but they did apologise for dropping me. That Taverners award has certainly helped.”

It surely won’t be the last award he picks up. “Next year’s going to be massive – it’s our big platform to get PD cricket on the mainstream map,” he says. “You can read about in the paper, but that doesn’t put it into perspective – it’s just a disabled kid’s done well against disabled players. You’re missing a trick if you don’t see the things we are doing – seeing is believing.”