Australian Blind Cricket Carnivals (Championships) are conducted bi-annually and are held
in State rotation around Australia. Australia won the 2012 International Blind Cricket Ashes
in England.
Blind Cricket is played in essentially the same way as the conventional game of Cricket with
the major exceptions being:
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Audible ball – the ball rattles/rings when moving (note: ball is of similar size and
weight to a conventional cricket ball)
A side is made up of four totally blind players (B1’s), three poor partially blind players
(B2’s) and four partially sighted players (B3’s). Each sight category has a 12th man
(14 players in total, eleven players and three 12th men)
All bowling is underarm and the ball must bounce at least twice before reaching the
batter. Before delivering the ball B1 players receive a direction call from the
wicketkeeper to find the correct line to bowl. B1 players must bowl a minimum of 40
per cent of the overs in an innings
Totally blind players have a runner when batting and are credited with two runs for
every run scored off the bat
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: Australia developed the game of Blind Cricket, a sport which
is now played throughout the world. The game had its beginnings in 1922 in Melbourne,
Victoria where it was first played at a hostel in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne. At the time
of a Test Match, two residents thought blind people could play cricket as well, and put rocks
in a tin can and began to play a crude version of what we play today. The game was then
introduced to other States in Australia and was mainly played during lunchtime at workshops
where vision impaired people were employed.
In 1928 in Sydney, the first Interstate game of Blind Cricket took place between NSW and
Victoria. Later the same year, a NSW team travelled to Melbourne to continue the challenge.
In January 1953, the Australian Blind Cricket Council (now Blind Cricket Australia) was
formed in conjunction with the inaugural Australian Blind Cricket Carnival (Championships)
which were held at Kooyong in Melbourne.
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