Townsville is about to take a major step forward in cricket inclusivity, with the city set to host a Blind Cricket Come & Try Day on October 12 at Gill Park. The event, co-organised by Queensland Cricket, the Queensland Blind Cricket Association, and Townsville Cricket Inc, will formally introduce the Blind Cricket format to the local sporting community.
Although an attempt to stage a similar event last year faced setbacks due to flight cancellations for visiting players and coaches, six participants still attended, demonstrating the region’s growing interest in Blind Cricket. This year, all the organisations are determined to build on that foundation, offering an enhanced experience with some of Queensland’s best Blind Cricket talent on hand.
Through diversity and inclusion funding from Queensland Cricket, the Queensland Blind Cricket Association is sending up seven of its seasoned players, including Matt McCarthy and Julie Neumann, the current captains of Australia’s men’s and women’s national Blind Cricket teams. They will be joined by fellow Queensland representatives Chris Gould, Sean Kendrick, Oliver Fanshawe, Raymond Moxley, and Nicole Rowling, all of whom have been key figures in the state team over recent seasons.
The event will include a morning Come & Try session, followed by an afternoon exhibition match, mixing the State Blind stars with local talent to showcase the full suite of the Blind Cricket format.
North Queensland Cricket Manager, Antony Stewart, spoke optimistically about revisiting the initiative despite last year’s setbacks.
“We’ve had a strong relationship with organisations such as Vision Australia locally, so we really wanted to leverage that to introduce Blind Cricket more formally to the Cricket Association.” He said.
With Queensland set to host the Blind Ashes on the Gold Coast in November, Blind Cricket is gaining significant momentum across the state. This event in Townsville is part of broader efforts to expand the game’s reach and provide more opportunities for people with disabilities to enjoy cricket in a competitive and social environment.
Darren Kendrick, the President of the QLD Blind Association, also commented on how expanding the association’s program will aid uncovering future talent.
He said “Our program has been heavily centred around south east QLD for years,”
“Activating programs around the state that are linked to traditional cricket structures will provide opportunities to blind and low vision players to regularly engage with our game, and representative program, without having to relocate to southeast QLD” he continued.
The hope is that this event will lay the foundation for Blind Cricket to become a permanent fixture in the Townsville cricket calendar, giving locals an exciting new format to participate in and support, as well as pursue higher representative honours in the future.
Do you think you are eligible to play Blind Cricket competitively? There is a common misconception that players must be completely blind, when in fact players are split across three categories:
- B1: No light perception in either eye up to or including light perception but inability to recognise the shape of a hand at any distance or in any direction.
- B2: From ability to recognise the shape of a hand up to and including Visual Acuity of 2/60 and/or Visual Field of 5 Degrees or less.
- B3: From Visual Acuity above 2/60 up to and including Visual Acuity of 6/60 and/or a Visual Field of more than 5 degrees up to and including 20 degrees.
For more information on the Come and Try day, or to confirm your attendance, contact Antony Steward on Antony.Stewart@qldcricket.com.au or 0466 795 648.