SPORTS: Lifting the covers of Blind Cricket

Far from allowing sport to be a sight-only undertaking, visually impaired cricketers bowled Newcastle over during a four-day tournament which ended on Tuesday.

December 13, 2017

Bruce Douglas 2 minutes read

The standard sweep shot pays dividends for KZN's Ndumiso Nyawase.

Blind cricketers are changing the game one match at a time.

Far from allowing sport to be a sight-only undertaking, visually impaired cricketers bowled Newcastle over during a four-day tournament which ended on Tuesday.

The primary aim of the event was to raise awareness about the sport.

If all goes well, administrators behind the scenes of Blind Cricket hope to include Newcastillians in provincial teams and perhaps host Blind Cricket leagues in future.

One of KwaZulu-Natal’s administrators is Manny Mothilal.

He explained on Saturday how Blind Cricket had grown in leaps and bounds, beginning as purely developmental and now boasting teams playing worldwide.

“Blind Cricket has become a worldwide sport where players in countries like Pakistan are employed to play for their country.”

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Although this was not yet a reality for South Africans, Mothilal was nevertheless impressed with the success of local Blind Cricket, even with minimal funding and subsidies.

He thus appreciated the sponsorships for the four-day tournament.

“Hospitality shown by Newcastle has been excellent so far. The work we do is almost fully voluntary and without Blind Cricket, these guys would sit at home with nothing to do except listen to the radio or television set.”

Mothilal further elaborated on the premise of Blind Cricket, with players categorised as B1 (fully blind and no light perception), B2 (10 per cent vision) and B3 (15 per cent vision).

Cricketers had to visit an ophthalmologist before being allowed to play.

Since establishing a KZN team and developmental side, Mothilal said the province held the distinction of winning the National Championships in 2014.

The local tournament was also full of success for KZN.

In its opening clash with Boland, KZN batsmen Senzo Luthuli and Ndumiso Nyawase helped the team to victory with an over to spare.

Boland is considered the top team in the Blind Cricket fraternity.

“The key is extensive weekly training every Saturday, and the high level of commitment from our players.”

Full results of the tournament are expected later in the week.