Caribbean Beat — January/February 2017 (#143)

Blind cricket was first played
in 1922 in Melbourne,
Australia, when two factory
workers put rocks in a tin
can and began to play a
crude version of the game
length and width as that used in sighted
cricket. The boundaries are measured
forty metres in a circle around the pitch,
and indicated by a white line with orange
“witches’ hats” at intervals.
Bowling is done under-arm, and the
ball is made of plastic and filled with
metal washers, so that it rattles, giving
blind batsmen and fielders a chance to
hear it coming at them. The ball must
bounce at least twice before the crease
of a totally blind batsman, but must not
be rolling, and at least once before the
crease of a partially sighted batsman. A
totally blind batsman is given one chance
before being given out LBW, and cannot
be stumped. The bowler must ask the
batsman if he is ready before beginning
his run-up, and must shout “play” as he
releases the ball. The sweep shot is the
most popular stroke, since it maximises
the batsman’s chance of hitting the ball.
The game has been governed by the
World Blind Cricket Council since 1996.
So far, four blind World Cups have been
held: the first was in Delhi, India, in
1998; the second in Chennai, India, in
2002; the third in Islamabad, Pakistan, in
2006. In 2012, the first blind World Cup
in the T20 format was held in Bangalore,
India. Incidentally, India has won all the
formats of the game: the First T20 World
Cup in 2012, the ODI World Cup in 2014,
and the T20 Asia Cup in January 2016.
The West Indies team first took part in
the ODI World Cup in 2006 in Pakistan,
where they placed fifth. “Of course we
are looking to improve our track record,”
says Bhawani Persad, administrator for
regional operations of the West Indies
Cricket Council for the Blind and Visually
Impaired. “We face the same challenges
as [sighted] West Indies cricket . . . the
small size of our populations is key.
England has different teams, they have
county cricket, their population is very
big, and they have enough teams to
have inter-team competitions. We have
a regional competition which is held
annually.” Funding remains a perennial
problem, and national teams have been
known to miss out on the regional
tournament because they can’t find
corporate sponsors to pay for plane
tickets or their kits.
But one achievement for West
Indies blind cricket of which Persaud is
particularly proud is the participation
of the French Antilles. “West Indies’
conventional teams haven’t touched these
areas yet, but we have,” he points out.
It’s another example of how blind cricket
goes beyond a boundary. n
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