Ten thousand runs, it’s quite a number, only a handful of players have achieved it in test cricket, the majority of county cricketers will never reach that mark either, however in blind cricket we have our first player confirmed to have reached that total.
Since the adoption of the Play Cricket scoring system it is possible to track the careers of anyone who plays & we now have the vast majority of scorecards from the last 15 years added to that platform. It is certain that Blind Cricket Hall of Fame member Damion Corrigan has more than ten thousand career runs, but too few scorecards exist from the 1990’s & early 2000’s for this to be confirmed officially.
So who is the first official ten thousand run man?
On an April day this year in Manchester where dark clouds threatened, but failed, to prevent a match being completed; during a very modest innings of 24 not out that the first English visually impaired batter reached a confirmed 10,000 career runs. They would not have been that interested in a milestone, as ever their focus would have been on the team result and would relish the league win more than any personal record.
From the early years of this century when a glittering 20 year, not out, career got underway it was clear that London Metro had uncovered a future star. The first records of their achievement recorded for all are scores of 3 against Birmingham Sports in the 2003 BBS, as it was then, cup final at Lords and 16 in a Metro v Sussex game in 2004. There must have been many more scored to earn an England call up for the ashes in August that year where Matt Dean scored 37 batting at eight in the first game of the series. Despite being run out in the next two games he impressed enough to get an opening batters slot for the final two matches. Since then in 85 England appearances, several as skipper, he has generally been opening batter and has scored 2,472 runs while also taking 23 catches and securing six run outs. He has six international centuries as well as fourteen 50s and an impressive average of 41.2.
His domestic record is hugely impressive as he’s amassed 7,532 runs from 120 matches with an average of almost 92! He has 29 centuries and 30 50s with a top score of 212 not out from 2016. He has scored over 300 runs in domestic cricket every season since 2009 with his top haul being 773 in 2010. As a team player he will recall with pride impressive partnerships of 355 with Rory Field from 2012, 290 with Mark Bond in 2016 and 264 with Nick Ebbeck in 2018.
That said he is not just a batter – he has over 100 fielding wickets in the domestic game; 88 catches and 13 run outs. When called upon he can also bowl and has 23 wickets at the pretty reasonable economy of 8.5.
So we salute Matt Dean, blind cricket’s first officially confirmed Ten Thousand Run man.
“It’s a phenomenal achievement,” BCEW Competitions Director Dave Gavrilovic said of Matt’s landmark,
“To reach ten thousand runs means that Matt has been consistently excellent for two decades, something few competitors manage in any sport. Matt is an outstanding talent, but also a genuinely nice guy who remains popular around the circuit despite the number of times he has taken apart opposition bowling attacks.”
Current Metro skipper Rory Field said:
“For nearly two decades Matt has been part of the opening pair to walk out for Metro. He invariably is involved the constant in great partnerships for us and continues to rack up the runs. He contributes in every way on and off of the field. It is wonderful to play in the same team as Matt and I can only imagine that he will be the subject of opposition pre match talks.”