The ACT Vision Impaired Cricket team (VISACT Cricket) and the NSW Blind Cricket team (NSWBCA) clashed in their annual three-match ACT-NSW Blind Cricket Challenge. The ACT were dismissed for 94 in reply to NSW’s total of 134 with David Ferguson (ACT) taking man of match honours with 5/25.

But just how does blind cricket work? An audible ball – made of hard plastic and filled with metal washers or ball bearings – is just one of the adaptations. In this game, the ball is bowled underarm, has to bounce twice before being hit, and the bowler must call “play” before releasing it.

Otherwise, it’s like traditional cricket – there are 11 players per team, the same bat is used and protective gear is essential. Four players from each side must be totally blind or blindfolded with the other players being partially sighted.

“Vision impaired cricket has come along way in the past 15 years with the adaption of the game to appeal to both blind and partially sighted cricket players. Today there are over 130 registered blind and vision impaired cricket players across Australia with 5 teams competing every two years at the National Blind Cricket Championships,” VISACT Cricket secretary Stephen Fagg said.

Stephen Fagg mentioned that VISACT Cricket and NSWBCA were working together to take the game to regional areas such as Albury, Goulburn, Yass and Wollongong.

“VISACT Cricket has recently received $5000 from masoniCare to provide opportunities for blind and vision impaired persons to play blind cricket in regional centres. We will be providing coaching clinics in Yass and Goulburn in the coming months and we hope that there will be enough players to form a team from those regional centres.”

To register for the coaching clinics or if you are interested in finding more about vision impaired cricket you can contact Vision Impaired Cricket ACT by contacting Nick Haydar on 0412 901 986 or check out their website at http://www.visact.org.au/sports/c ricket