HISTORY

The game of Blind Cricket in Australia is administered and controlled at a National level by BCA and at a State level by respective State BCA affiliate members.
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Blind Cricket is played in essentially the same way as the conventional game of Cricket with the major exceptions being:

  • 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

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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.
Australian Blind Cricket Carnivals (Championships) are conducted bi-annually and are held in State rotation around Australia.