THE UK LADIES BLIND CRICKET TEAM IS PART OF BLIND CRICKET ENGLAND AND WALES (BCEW)AND IS RUN ON DONATION, AND FUNDS RAISED BY THE PLAYERS AND COACHES THEMSELVES.
Our squad currently consist of around 25+ women aged 11 years and above with varying levels of sight. Many of the women as well as their visual impairments have additional medical conditions which impact on their daily living in many ways. Players are based all over the UK so our national training takes place in Bracknell every 3-4 months as a whole squad. Due to minimal funding and tight budgets, travel costs have had to be reduced. Therefore, vital regular training is split into north and south regions (Wakefield and Bracknell) on a monthly basis.
Friendly matches are paramount for progression in the game as individuals and a team. As the only all-female visually impaired team in the country these are often against fully sighted teams. They also are often taken place all over the country and all though paramount come with many financial costs.
WHO CAN PLAY BLIND CRICKET?
Players are split into 3 sight classification categories;
B1 players will only have light perception or no vision at all, during the game they will wear blindfold to equal this playing field
B2 players have more sight than a B1 but still have very minimal amounts of residual vision
B3 players are the highest sight category within international cricket, still severely visually impaired however have what is described as more useful vision
HOW DOES THE GAME WORK?
Blind cricket is played in the same format of mainstream cricket with a few adjustments and rule changes. Each team consist of 11 players at least 4 players must be of the B1 category.
All B1 players receive double runs when batting as well as having a designated runner of the B2 or B3 category, Dependent on the individual B2 players also have the option of a runner however B3s do not.
The ball used is an adapted cricket ball which is made of a hard plastic and is white with ball bearings in to make it audible for players. It is bowled under arm along the floor with a legal delivery requiring it to bounce once in each half of the pitch. The bowler must ask the batter if they are ready and wait for a reply of ‘yes’, once the bowler releases the ball they must say ‘play’ so the batter knows the ball is on its way down the wicket. Batters use the words ‘yes, no or wait’ to communicate to each other if they want to make a run.