Blind cricket stirs Comfort
Mandeville, Manchester — Residents of Comfort in central Manchester had a unique experience recently.
They were treated to two friendly cricket matches between Jamaica’s leading blind and visually impaired players and the Comfort Under-15 team.
Scores of awed residents watched as the blind and visually impaired cricketers batted, bowled and fielded, depending mostly on a rattling sound to locate the ball made of hard plastic with metal bearings inside.
There were a few other distinct differences from conventional cricket – the most noticeable being that the ball must be bowled underarm.
Inevitably, the blind and visually batsmen showed great proficiency at the sweep shot.
Comfort’s Under-15 cricketers struggled with the format and lost both games, though they said they enjoyed the challenge.
“It was a different kind of cricket and the ball’s very light and hard to manage,” one youngster told Jamaica Observer Central.
The blind and visually impaired cricketers as well as coach Glendon Coke expressed gratitude to their hosts for allowing them the chance for much-needed practice.
Eight of the blind and visually impaired players are part of a West Indies team which left the following day for India where they are now participating in the World T20 championships.
Jamaica Blind and Visually Impaired cricket captain Denal Shim explained to Observer Central that cricket had done much to improve the lives of many blind and visually impaired young men.
“It has helped a tremendous a lot,” said Shim.
“Basically we are seen as marginalised and society tends to look at us differently and we have a low self-esteem, so playing the game and going out to represent the country, helps us to hold our heads high,” he said.
Crucially, said Shim, blind cricket has helped him and several of his teammates to get scholarships at local colleges and universities. “If it wasn’t for cricket, I don’t know how I would have gone through college to be a holder of a degree,” said Shim who works with the Jamaica Red Cross but is a trained teacher.
— Garfield Myers