page revision date: 14th August 2008
Dickie selected for England team
Saundersfoot Cricket Club’s long-serving all-rounder Dickie Parcell has recently become the first Pembrokeshire cricketer to be selected for the Great Britain team which has been formed after trials at Warmsley, near Birmingham.
Dickie travelled up as captain of the Wales and South West team and played well enough to be invited to play in the first-ever game, which will take place against the English Learning Disabilities team as very much a showcase match to highlight the fact that cricket is a sport for all.
Dickie played cricket throughout school at Greenhill, Tenby, and for over 20 years at Saundersfoot, making light of the fact that he was born without a fibula in both legs, has only three toes on his left foot and only two toes and no heel on his other foot. He would be the first to admit that he was conscious of his disability when he started out but was encouraged all the way by Huw Thomas, a great teacher who also played cricket at Saundersfoot.
Forcing his way into first team
He started with Saundersfoot Seconds in 1985 and gradually forced his way into the first team as long practice saw an improvement in his batting to go with his bowling. His best score was 80 not out against Pembroke and his best analysis was a 5 for 25 spell against Llanrhian, plus lots of other five-wicket hauls. Dickie also has a safe pair of hands for catching but laughingly says that in the field he is now someone who needs a young pair of legs to cover him in the field!
During his time at the club Dickie has received wonderful support from all the players, especially when he set out by Cliff Jones, Roy Morgan, plus the likes of Roger Stanford, Chris Parker, Steve Williams and Lionel ‘Bonzo’ Badham, who has been a great pal off the field. On the subject of support, Dickie would also nominate wife Karen, children Billy (9) and Molly (5), plus mum Anne as his greatest fans.
Many people in cricket might not know that Dickie is also a very capable snooker player who joined Steve Davies, Wayne John, Chappie Harries and Mark Cleveley in the Saundersfoot snooker team which has won both the league and cup on a number of occasions. He has a best break of 104 but when he played Tony Drago at the Regency Hall he was out of the match from the start as Drago made an 84 opening break. Dickie also represented the county in pool last season and although Pembrokeshire lost he at least had the consolation that he won all four of his games.
Disabled cricket
He became involved in cricket for the disabled when he friend Colin Murphy spotted an article in a cricket magazine seeking disabled players to attend trials for the Wales Cricket team and pointed it out to Dickie, who promptly applied and attended trials at both Monmouth and Bridgend. The coach was Ian Martin and after Dickie had made scores of 60, 48 and 30, against top sides like Lancashire, with bowling figures of 3 for 28, found himself invited to skipper the team for the trials for the full England team.
These were held at Loughborough College with regional teams playing on a 20/20 basis and Dickie doing well enough to earn selection as they lost narrowly in the final after dismissing London for 69 and winning with ease before edging home against the South by seven runs.
It meant that Dickie was thrilled to receive the letter informing him of his selection and at the time of writing he was ready to play. He has already received his Welsh sweater and will add an England one on the day. We will fill in details of that match in the near future but in the meanwhile we wish Dickie Parcell a wonderful debut for the English Disability team, and long may he continue playing for them.
