Disability Officer Experiences Blind Cricket in Annual Berkshire Stags Fixture
On Friday night our Disability Officer Chris played in the annual fixture between Holyport Cricket Club and Berkshire Stags VI team.
To help level the playing field and give the Holyport players a greater appreciation of blind cricket, the home side wore sim-specs – specialist training glasses designed to simulate different levels of visual impairment.
On a warm and sunny evening, Holyport won the toss and elected to field first. Some tight bowling early on kept Stags in check before the Stags more experienced players steadied the innings to help them get up to a competitive, if not slightly below par score of 103 off their 15 overs.
After a quick turnaround, it was the turn of Holyport to bat and attempt to chase down the total. With Stags missing a few of their key bowlers and with the opening batters using B3 vision (greatly limited vision), Holyport got off to a flyer, hitting the ball to the boundary with ease. It looked like the game would be done inside 10 overs before Chris entered the game, batting as a B1. This meant he was blindfolded and would have to rely on hearing the ball only. Dot ball after dot ball gave the Stags hope they could drag themselves back into the game. Eventually, Chris was bowled out for a duck having only managed to hit the ball once during his time at the crease, much to the amusement of the Stags players. Still needing 20 off 5 overs, some lower order hitting got Holyport over the line with 1 over to spare.
Following the match, both teams enjoyed a magnificent BBQ, with the Stags players sharing valuable advice to help the Holyport players develop their blind cricket skills.
If clubs are interested in hosting Berkshire Stags for a fixture either this season or next, please get in contact with them via their Facebook page.