The Rediff Special/George Iype

'Given the opportunity, the blind too can master the art and technique of cricket'

Cricket for the blind is a game that makes use of a fact of natural life -- that the sight impaired tend to compensate with a heightened sense of hearing.

Thus, the visually impaired play cricket with special balls designed by the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped.

The ball is made of hard plastic, filled with tiny ball bearings that rattle when it moves. And the sound of the approaching ball gives the batsman, and the fielders, a fix on its position.

As per the rules framed to govern the game globally, each team of 11 comprises three categories. The first category, to comprise a minimum of four, have to be players who are totally blind. The second set, of three players, are people with very poor eyesight - the norm being less than 2 by 60 (which means what a normal eye can see at 60 feet, the impaired eye can spot only at two feet). And the third category, of four players, have vision in the range of 6 by 60.

The pitch is of normal length, but unlike in conventional cricket, it is neither turf nor earth, but metal, in order that the batsman can hear the ball pitch. The stumps, too, are made of metal, and instead of the three stumps in conventional cricket, the sight impaired use one block of metal, with screws binding the top and bottom instead of bails.

Before delivering the ball, the bowler has to ask, 'Ready?'. The ball can be delivered only after the batsman responds with a 'Yes', at which the bowler calls 'Play' and immediately bowls the ball. Failure to comply will mean the award of an extra run to the batting side.

If the delivery wanders off the metal pitch and hits the ground, it is called 'dead ball', and has to be rebowled -- the idea being that the batsman, at all times, has to be in a position to hear and judge the progress of the ball down the wicket.

To give the bowler an idea of where the stumps, and therefore the batsman, is located, the wicketkeeper keeps slapping his gloves together.

And that is it -- all other rules are exactly the same as those governing conventional cricket. For, as Abraham points out, "The blind don't need pity, charity, special concessions -- given the opportunity, they too can master the art and technique of cricket."

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