During the Boxing Day Test last year, Akanksha Swarup was cheering on her favourite cricketer, Jasprit Bumrah. The world's best bowler had a remarkable summer, picking up 32 wickets across five Test matches. But he couldn't quite match what Swarup achieved one Saturday afternoon in north-west Sydney. "I took 18 wickets," she said. "I do my actions with bowling and … line up the ball with the wicket so I can get them out." The 26-year-old plays with Blowfly Cricket, a unique club in north-west Sydney designed specifically for autistic players and people like Swarup, who lives with an intellectual impairment. She's been playing for 10 years and has since flourished, not only developing her batting, bowling and fielding skills, but also growing her potential as a coach. "I have these opportunities for going to school holidays and teaching kids from different schools, I can teach them their [cricket] skills," she said. Holistic approach to community sport Blowfly Cricket began when founder Mark Rushton recognised a gap in cricket participation for people with intellectual impairments, creating a holistic approach to community sport. It isn't just about getting out on the pitch for these players, but also the volunteering and management roles available to them. "My role [now] is basically in the background," Mr Rushton said. "We appoint parents or older cricketers to key volunteer coaching positions, and they run it themselves." In recent years, Blowfly Cricket established a coaching program to support players keen to get their coaching credentials. The Uncoachables Coaching the Uncoachables Academy mentors and assists the players through Cricket Australia's community coaching course. Once a cricketer turns 14, they are encouraged to consider the coaching path. "They've got to do the hard yards, and the families help them [with] the theory side of it," Mr Rushton said. The club provides the budding coaches with financial support as well, through scholarships and grants. In providing this avenue, the cricketing world is opening up for these players and coaches, creating opportunities to make a career from cricket — two Blowfly cricketers are now employed by Cricket NSW. Blowfly Cricket is also leading by example, with other programs popping up around Sydney at Schofields and Bankstown Cricket Clubs. The hope is to see these programs replicated across the country, giving all people with a disability a chance to play some backyard cricket on the weekend, or pursue a more elite pathway. Open and welcoming Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the country, with nearly 800,000 people participating each year. According to Cricket Australia and Ausplay, about 2 per cent of people playing cricket live with a disability. Despite this low figure, Cricket Australia is the first non-Paralympic sport to fund state and national disability teams across three divisions — blind and low vision, deaf and hard of hearing, and cricketers with intellectual impairments. Since 2017, the National Cricket Inclusion Championships have been run, offering an elite competition for disabled cricketers and a pathway to representing Australia in international series like World Cups. Cricket NSW's inclusion and diversity manager, Julie Stafford, said the real challenge in making the sport more inclusive, is the range of disabilities and understanding how local clubs can support disabled cricketers. "For example, years ago, we had a low vision girl playing in a local girl's cricket team and she was allowed to come up closer to the stump to bowl, whenever she took a wicket, her teammates cheered so she would know," Stafford said. Cricket NSW is working with organisations like Sports 4 All, to support coaches and clubs to become more inclusive. "Clubs don't have to be fearful," Stafford said. "We encourage cricket clubs to be open and welcoming, because the benefits and the value to that [disabled] cricketer, to be included in a game, it's just immense." Inclusion in grassroots cricket has potentially huge benefits for people with intellectual impairments, not just in the sport, but beyond as well. "It's just astonishing to see their improvement and their self-esteem, their pride and just basic [life] skills improving," Mr Rushton said. 'Made my confidence shine' Swarup, alongside her friend and fellow cricketer Maddie Jones, are two of the first of the Blowfly cricketers to reach their level two coaching credentials. Like Swarup, Jones has had the opportunity to coach young children. "[I've] shown them skills that they might use when they play for Australia one day," she said. Community is incredibly important for the club. Jones's sister Bronte is a volunteer, as are many of the parents and siblings of the cricketers. "I love having my family here. Mum was the one that got me involved in it in the first place," Jones said. Cricket has seen Jones thrive, both on and off the pitch, becoming a role model for other women living with intellectual impairment to get involved in cricket. "I think it's made my confidence shine a little bit, being around all these new people," she said. "It's important because [I want other people] living with a disability [to] see that I can do this, and I can go out into the world and just go, yeah, I can do this."