A blind love for the game

Why would a blind person love cricket? In the Guardian, Peter White, who was born without his eyesight explains how he is charmed by the game's sounds, scores and slowness, and provides a rare insight into gamesmanship among the vision impaired.

In these soft days, I gather blind batsmen don't run: scores are based on how far the ball has been hit. At the special blind school where I and my friends regularly played, two totally blind batsmen would cheerfully hare off from opposite ends for quick singles, frequently colliding in the middle with earth-moving consequences (one of them my now slightly crooked nose).

The value of mimicry in blind cricket must not be underestimated. Mischievous fieldsmen would often imitate your batting partner in calling you for an impossible run. Compared with the gamesmanship employed by blind players, the likes of "bodyline" Jardine, Tony Greig and Paul Collingwood are mere babes in arms.