User:Jonny G 07/sandbox

Jonny Gale is an English cricketer who plays for the England cricket team Learning Disabilities squad. He also plays for and captains Surrey County Cricket Club squad for players with a learning and/or physical disability. Gale is an Opening batsmen for Surrey and England.

Early Life and Education
Gale was born in London, and diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3, and now lives in Surrey and attends North East Surrey College Of Technology. As a child, he grew up following football and played for his local football club as a Defender (association football).

Cricket Career
Gale was introduced to cricket at the age of 10 at his local cricket club in Westcott, Surrey, Westcott Cricket Club. In the early stages of his colt groups, Gale specialised in Swing bowling and through to his late adolescent ages, began to develop into an all-rounder.

By the age of 14, Gale was trialled for Surrey County Cricket Club softball team for people with a learning disability. 4 games into his county career, he was appointed captain for the county and lead Surrey for 4 years and won several major inter-county competitions; only losing the competition on two occasions. By 15, The England and Wales Cricket Board became aware of Gale's Swing bowling capabilities, and was trialled for England's Learning Disability Cricket squad. Whilst having trials with England in 2008/9, he broke into Surrey County Cricket Club Disability First XI at the start of the 2009 season. In his first county match against Devon, he score 53 Not Out and took figures of 2/11.

In the 2014 county season, he scored his maiden county century, 128 Not Out against Essex County Cricket Club Disability Squad. Despite his score, Surrey lost as Essex chased the score of 251 with 2 balls to spare. In the 2015 season, Gale scored a further 2 centuries, one against Kent (136) and the second against Middlesex (163). Prior to the end of the season, he was appointed Surrey's Disability's First XI's captain after their captain, Matthew Couchman, stepped down and has requested to spend time away from the game.

2011 - South Africa
Gale made his international debut as a swing bowler and in the first match of the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability Tri-Series, which features Australia, South Africa and England in an One Day International format, he took 2/28 against South Africa - his first wicket came on only his 4th delivery of his first over - it was his first international match. In his second match, his first against Australia, he only took 1 wicket. Despite playing in all 5 matches (including the finals), he didn't take any wickets in the rest of the tournament. Although he only took 3 wickets, he helped England go on to win the Tri-Series for the first time.

2014 - Netherlands
After a struggle in his first tour, Gale became Opening batsmen and was selected as part of a 14-man squad tp tour the Netherlands in 2-match against the Netherlands XI, which featured brother of Tom Cooper (cricketer), Ben Cooper (cricketer), Mudassar Bukhari, brother of Peter Borren, Ben Borren. In the first game, struggled and scored 8 before being trapped LBW. In his second game, he fell just short of a maiden half century, he was ran out on 46. He did not bowl in the tour.

2015 - Australia
Following a successful season in 2014, Gale was selected as part of a 15-man squad for the All Abilities Cricket Championships vs Australia. Gale was selected to play in all 6 matches, but struggled with an average of 16.5 and once again, opening batsmen. Despite the struggle with the bat, he managed to score his maiden half-century but was soon dismissed for 52.