The Hundred 2023: Birmingham Phoenix all-around player Benny Howell explains how ADHD affects his game
The Hundred 2023: Birmingham Phoenix all-around player Benny Howell explains how ADHD affects his game
Location: Edgbaston Date: 24 August Times: 3.00pm BST (women) and 6.30pm BST (men)Cover: Bullet-to-bullet commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds, with website BBC Sport web and app offering live text updates and in-play video clips alongside commentary.
In many ways, that's what has served him so well. This early fascination with the spin and movement of a ball means that today we see him line up for Hampshire and Birmingham Phoenix.
Many cricket fans see Howell as a talented player who competed around the world, winning seven wickets in this year's Hundred, but he is also not shy about being neurodivergent or "thinking differently".
He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD) as a child, which he says made him the "weird kid" who was "constantly struggling" trying to fit in.
Nowadays Howell "thrives" being different and like others he doesn't see it as a disorder, just different wiring in the brain.
One in five people are neurodivergent, a term that celebrates people with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, with ADHD or another way of thinking.
Of course, we never get out of it. Concentration is always something Howell has to contend with and it's also one of the reasons why Test and red ball cricket has never appealed to him, mainly due to its repetitiveness.
"I found it difficult most of the time," admits the 34-year-old. "I like to be creative and do a lot of different things, especially with my bowling. Also the level of concentration with my batters sometimes I was a bit bored and that had an effect. I was making a bad decision and I was getting ."
It's this lack of focus that people with ADHD are known for but, even while there are challenges, there are many positive aspects to this constant need for stimulation. It leads to new ideas and original thinking.
After watching a baseball game in the Aux United States, Howell impulsively went to try the sport in Australia during the offseason and learned different types of deliveries.
This led him to introduce a "knuckleball" into his bowling repertoire.
Location: Edgbaston Date: 24 August Times: 3.00pm BST (women) and 6.30pm BST (men)Cover: Bullet-to-bullet commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds, with website BBC Sport web and app offering live text updates and in-play video clips alongside commentary.
In many ways, that's what has served him so well. This early fascination with the spin and movement of a ball means that today we see him line up for Hampshire and Birmingham Phoenix.
Many cricket fans see Howell as a talented player who competed around the world, winning seven wickets in this year's Hundred, but he is also not shy about being neurodivergent or "thinking differently".
He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD) as a child, which he says made him the "weird kid" who was "constantly struggling" trying to fit in.
Nowadays Howell "thrives" being different and like others he doesn't see it as a disorder, just different wiring in the brain.
One in five people are neurodivergent, a term that celebrates people with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, with ADHD or another way of thinking.
Of course, we never get out of it. Concentration is always something Howell has to contend with and it's also one of the reasons why Test and red ball cricket has never appealed to him, mainly due to its repetitiveness.
"I found it difficult most of the time," admits the 34-year-old. "I like to be creative and do a lot of different things, especially with my bowling. Also the level of concentration with my batters sometimes I was a bit bored and that had an effect. I was making a bad decision and I was getting ."
It's this lack of focus that people with ADHD are known for but, even while there are challenges, there are many positive aspects to this constant need for stimulation. It leads to new ideas and original thinking.
After watching a baseball game in the Aux United States, Howell impulsively went to try the sport in Australia during the offseason and learned different types of deliveries.
This led him to introduce a "knuckleball" into his bowling repertoire.
