The England Cricket Board launched an intermediary tournament between the county championships and international setups for disabled cricketers in 2022. This tournament was called the Disability Premier League (DPL) and featured players with hearing impairment, physical disability, and learning disability.
The tournament has been contested between four sides – Black Cats, Pirates, Hawks, and Tridents. The players who are chosen to represent these sides are selected from a draft consisting of domestic and international cricketers. The players in the domestic circuit are the ones who have played in one of the 51 county championship sides. Three tiers of players make draft of 64 players. The first tier consists of marquee players of each side, the second tier has players from the current national squad, and the third tier are players whose performance in winter camps led to their nomination.
Each team has 16 players. On an average each side must have at least five players each with a physical disability, learning disability, and hearing impairment. Across three consecutive Sundays, teams play each other twice in a round-robin format. All matches are played in the T20 format. At the end of the round-robin stage, the top two sides contest the final. Each player in the squad of 16 must play at least two matches. At least 20% of the overs must be bowled by a bowler from each impairment pool. This means that players from each of these pools must bowl at least four overs each.
A highlight of the Disability Premier League is the Explosion Over, wherein the fielding side has to take an additional powerplay over anytime between the sixth and twentieth over. Since the rule is mandatory, if the fielding side has not opted for the explosion over, then it will compulsorily be imposed in the twentieth over. Another notable rule is that players with hearing impairments need to remove their cochlear implants or hearing aids during fielding.
Ahead of the 2025 season, the Trident, Hawks, and Pirates have won a title each. The Pirates have made the finals of all three editions contested.
