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India vs. England – Its cricket!

International cricket comes to Redditch and Feckenham when the English blind team takes on India. The series was due to take place at Worcestershire’s New Road before recent floods stopped play.

The teams will play at Redditch’s ground on Bromsgrove Road on August, 20, 22 and 23 and at Feckenham’s Mill Lane on August, 26. Leading blindness charity, Sightsavers International, is helping sponsor the Indian team.

Director of Overseas Programmes, Peter Ackland, said: “At Sightsavers we believe very strongly that blind cricket can be used to show the world that disability does not mean inability.”

“People who are blind should enjoy equal rights and opportunities within society. International blind cricket is fiercely competitive and fantastic to watch.”

Blind cricket has been played in England for 40 years and rules state players must be registered as blind or partially sighted and at least four are totally blind. The ball is filled with ball bearings to allow players to hear it and the stumps are brightly coloured.

Source: Will Wood, Redditch and Feckenham to host international game, Redditch Standard, UK, 17 August 2007.

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And off they go!

India’s blind cricket team has turned to Rahul Dravid to raise finances for their national team, which leaves for England Saturday for a One-day International series.

After being cold shouldered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the Association for Cricket for the Blind in India wants Dravid to help raise funds. 'I have been speaking to Dravid. I think he can help us,' ACBI chairman George Abraham told reporters here Friday. The Indian blind team is set to fly out of Delhi Saturday morning by an Emirates flight to England.

Manvendra Singh Patwal is leading a 13-member team that will play all its matches in Worcestershire. The first match is Monday and the final one is Aug 26.

The team had a week’s camp at the Jamia Millia Islamia under the guidance of Noor Mohammed, director of physical education at the university, who is accompanying the team as manager, who remarked that 'The boys are fit. And I can’t think of any other result apart from a series win. 'The only problem could be weather. If the boys could quickly get acclimatized to it we can easily win.'

Source: Indian blind cricket team off to England for series, Indo Asian News Service, 17 August 2007.

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