“Yes”, there is a difference between these sports, but don’t let that put you off!
Blind cricket in Great Britain consists of a league, cup and various youth competitions and training days.
In 2006 the BBS National cricket league and BCEW leagues will be running with 5 teams in each league. League games are 60 overs long. The first team to bat can bat for up to 40 overs if they don't get bowled out or declare and the team batting second gets to bat
for the remaining overs. In the league, matches can be won, lost or drawn.
The BBS Primary Club National Knockout Cup has 11 teams in it and has a final hosted by the MCC at Lords cricket ground (the home of cricket). Cup matches are 30 overs per side with the team with the higher scorer from their 30 overs the winner. Cup games can't be drawn, someone has to win!
In junior competitions there is the Kersey Cup competition held at the Lords indoor school in late April for teams of under 16s and Sussex Sharks have won this competition for the last four years. Hampshire will also be running a Hampshire youth cricket festival at the Rose Bowl in Southampton in 2006.
The current list of active clubs is as follows:
Other Blind Cricket clubs exist in: Hereford, Hampshire, Derbyshire and Bristol although none of these are currently playing in adult competitions although some are playing junior matches or friendlies. The BBS Cricket section is also undertaking cricket development work all over the country and other organisations playing blind cricket do exist without becoming clubs yet.
Blind Cricket is also played internationally but in a completely different format. The ball is the same size as a normal cricket ball but is hollow and contains ball bearings. The ball is thrown underarm by the bowler and must bounce before it reaches half way down the pitch (11 yards). An England team competes internationally. In 2004 the England team trounced the Aussies, winning the inaugural Blind Cricket Ashes Series by 3-2, in what was an extremely tense and exciting series. England also takes part in series against other countries and in Blind Cricket's World Cup. The next world cup takes place in Pakistan in December 2006.
International blind cricket is governed by the World Blind Cricket Council which has 8 full member countries who will be the competitors in the 2006 World Cup, they are: Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
International Update
Following the success of winning the 2004 Ashes series against the Australians, the England squad traveled to Sri Lanka for a three match series at the end of January 2006. The team achieved a 2-1 series victory, only losing the third match after they'd already won the series! Then at the end of May 2006 England took on reigning world champions Pakistan for the Umer Rashid memorial trophy in a four match series in Worcestershire.
For the series against Pakistan England selected 17 players and 5 support staff, they were:
Players
B1
B2
B3
Backup and Coaching Staff
By David Gavrilovic
The England blind cricket team has finished their four match series against world champions Pakistan with a morale boosting 4 wicket victory at New Road in Worcester.
Pakistan won the first three games of the series to claim the series 3-1 but England can count themselves unlucky not to have tied the series as they had Pakistan in deep trouble at 129/5 in the first game before rain ended the match. Pakistan then claimed a convincing win in the re-arranged fixture. The series win earned them the brand new Redditch Gujarkhan Friendship trophy. The final match was the closest and most exciting game of the series with Pakistan batting well to score 333/9 from their 40 overs, with Rory field claiming 3 wickets and Andy Powers taking 2. Sam Murray also took a stunning catch on the boundary in an all round terrific fielding performance from the England side.
The England innings started badly with two early wickets falling, but then totally blind batsman Nathan Foy with 162 and England captain Heindrich Swanepoel with 64 shared a 228 run partnership to give England a great chance of winning the game. Pakistan then
claimed 4 quick wickets leaving England needing a run a ball from the last 3 overs before Mark Pickup steered the team home with help from Keryn Seal who scored quickly at the end. England centurion Nathan Foy said “It’s fantastic! It really means a lot for England to beat Pakistan and certainly even more now that they're world champions.
“As for my own performance, a hundred is certainly very satisfying, especially because they've gone away and worked on their bowling, I'd imagine they've actually got one of the best bowling attacks in the world now. I do need to thank my runner Luke Sugg, although he did run me out, actually without him turning singles into two's and that sort of thing and putting pressure on the field I don't think I'd have got anywhere near a hundred, so a big thanks to Luke."
This result left England with some positives to take from the series including a promising debut from Dave Powers and some impressive fielding from the whole team.
England Captain Heindrich Swanepoel said "It was a very tough series for England, we did play the world champions and they're not world champions for nothing.
“We were using this as a development series to get a squad of 17 players match ready for the World Cup at the end of the year. For me the high point was that the squad came through the series and although we lost the series 3-1 everyone had a chance, and a lot of people got a lo more experience in preparation for the World Cup and England will be the stronger for it."
And Pakistan Captain Abdul Razaq said "The series went according to our expectations, we were thinking we have to win which we did 3-1. We are happy. It was a great series, we have enjoyed being over here, especially enjoyed the cricket and enjoyed the weather, but was a little bit hard for us, much cooler than Pakistan, anyhow it was great."
In each sight category a player was awarded the John Gough Memorial trophy for ‘Man of the Series’. The winning players were:
Both teams would like to thank:
Worcestershire CCC, Redditch CC and The Royal Grammar School in Worcester for allowing the matches to be played on their grounds, the Pakistani community in Redditch for supporting and looking after the Pakistan team and all the people who funded and sponsored the series.
1st International at Redditch CC
Pakistan beat England by 9 wickets
2nd International at Royal Grammar School, Worcester
Pakistan beat England by 8 wickets
3rd International at New Road, Worcester
Pakistan beat England by 5 wickets
4th international at New Road, Worcester
England beat Pakistan by 4 wickets
For more information on blind cricket please visit:
www.blindcricket.org.uk
or for more information on international blind cricket please visit:
www.cricketworld.com/wbcc
