Cricket Blog: A Game Without Boundaries

One thing that I didn’t expect to find when turning up for university cricket training on Friday was the Channel 4 cameras. After an initial thought of “I really hope they don’t get any shots of my batting” I soon found out that they were there to film part of a documentary on a lad called Mohammad, who is a part of the England Blind Cricket setup and an Alcuin Second Year. Despite having played cricket since the age of 11, I had never seen any blind cricket in action, so this was an experience for me, and most certainly one that I will never forget.

Blind cricket is an adapted form of the game for both partially sighted and blind people. The main modification is the ball, which is bigger than a normal cricket ball and contains ball bearings which allow players to hear it. Other modifications include a bigger set of stumps, and verbal signals are more frequently used by the umpires and players, for example the bowler must shout “play” before releasing the ball. Blind players have to be given out LBW twice before they are out, and are allowed to take catches in the field after one bounce.

So back to Friday’s training session, and I was nothing short of intrigued when Mohammad wandered down into the net, bat in hand, ready to show the cameras what he was made of. UYCC Second Team captain Ben Bartlett was responsible for the bowling, and after a few deliveries it became very clear why Mohammad was on the England books. The ball was literally being swatted all over the net with an air of effortlessness, and I have to admit that there was an air of poignancy about the whole occasion, as I found it hard to believe that anyone could hit a cricket ball with such timing and precision without the benefit of sight. Mohammed even managed to pick the camera man out with some of his shots, providing the odd moment of comedy. At one point during the net, a shot was hit and Mohammad immediately said “that’s out”, to which Ben responded “how can you be so sure?” The answer came back with total confidence, “I just know, that’s out”. I had to admire the lad! To put it simply, here was a cricketer with total confidence in his own game, who hit a cricket ball better than me, and all without the benefit of being able to see. Amazing.

Fortunately there was time for an added moment of comedy when the tables were turned and Ben had a go at trying to bat with his eyes closed whilst Mohammed bowled at him. Many attempts were had to try and hit the ball, but 90% of the time Ben hit nothing more than fresh air, prompting a response of ‘this is a lot harder than it looks!”.

However, the session made me think about cricket in a wider context, something which I have never really done before. Watching Mohammad bat and bowl made me realise that actually, cricket can provide a source of happiness and a sense of achievement to anyone who is willing to put time, effort and dedication into their own game. There should be a place in sport for everyone, regardless of age, sex, ability or disability, and it was refreshing to see firsthand that cricket is playing its part in making this goal a reality.

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