Cricket for the Visually Impaired at Warwicks t20
29 June 2012
At Wednesday’s Friends Life t20 match against Warwickshire, Gloucestershire hosted cricketers from Gloucestershire Cricket Board’s disability cricket programme. This included a group from the Cricket for the Visually Impaired squad who undertook a demonstration of their sport during the interval.
All players are registered as blind or partially sighted and of the 11 players in a team, 4 must be totally blind. The main difference between standard cricket and blind cricket is the ball. A size 3 football is used in UK blind cricket to help the partially sighted players to see it and it is filled with a quantity of ball bearings so that the totally blind players can hear it moving.
Other rule variations are :-
· The stumps are larger, making them easier to see and easier for the players to touch for orientation purposes.
· The bowler must ask the batsman if he is ready before starting his run up and must shout "play" as he releases the ball.
· The ball must pitch at least twice before reaching a totally blind player but must not be rolling
· The ball must pitch at least once before the crease against a partially sighted player.
· A totally blind player is given one chance before being out LBW and cannot be stumped.
· A totally blind fielder can make a catch after the ball has bounced once.
The Gloucestershire Visually Impaired County Cricket Club were formed recently by Marc Gulwell of the Gloucestershire county association for the blind and Chris Munden of the Gloucestershire cricket board in conjunction with the sport’s governing body Blind Cricket England and Wales.
They have regular training sessions on alternate Sundays at Debenhams sports ground, Gloucester and on Monday evenings at Frenchay CC in Bristol and are on the lookout for new players of all ages and abilities.
If you are interested in playing or indeed just volunteering to help out, please contact Chris Munden on 07787 510023 or Marc Gulwell on 01242 221170
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