Hi Anirban,
I got the article about blind cricket from the Wall Street Journal. The
link is below. However, I don't have information where we can get up to date
news about blind cricketing. Cheers!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203413304577085250476446154.html#printMode
--- On Fri, 9/12/11, Anirban Mukherjee <[email protected]> wrote:
> From: Anirban Mukherjee <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [AI] Pakistan's Cricketers Rule The Blind Game
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Friday, 9 December, 2011, 10:17 PM
> good posting. thank you. where can
> the latest news of indian blind
> cricket team can be found? i'm looking for those.
>
> with warm regards, Anirban Mukherjee
>
> On 12/9/11, shahnaz <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> >
> > Pakistan's Cricketers Rule the Blind Game
> > By
> > NICOLAS BRULLIARD
> >
> > LAHORE, Pakistan –Abdul Razzaq is one of the most
> decorated players in
> > international cricket. When he's been captain, his
> team hasn't lost a
> > tournament
> > since 2002. He is a two-time world champion and holds
> several world records
> > in the game. And he's never seen cricket being
> played.
> >
> > [iblind12014]
> >
> > Members of Pakistan's blind cricket team practiced on
> the eve of their
> > anticipated match against India in Lahore.
> >
> > Mr. Razzaq, who has been visually impaired since
> birth, is the captain of
> > his nation's blind cricket team. His squad, ranked No.
> 1 in the world, faced
> > second-ranked
> > India last month in a series of matches in Lahore and
> Islamabad in a rare
> > confrontation at the top of the sport. The two teams
> had not met since
> > Pakistan
> > topped India in the World Cup of blind cricket five
> years ago.
> >
> > Blind cricketers rely on audio cues to throw, hit and
> dive for the ball with
> > uncanny precision. Players count on the voices of
> their teammates to orient
> > themselves on the field, and bowlers are required to
> vocally warn batsmen
> > when they're about to pitch the ball. Blind cricket
> uses a bearings-filled
> > plastic
> > ball that rattles like a maraca, allowing players to
> locate it as it bounces
> > on the ground.
> >
> > "The listening of the blind person should be very good
> because 70% of the
> > performance depends on listening skills," Mr. Razzaq
> said. "But your body
> > should
> > also be like a sportsman's body."
> >
> > Despite being the world's sixth most populous nation,
> Pakistan hardly
> > qualifies as an athletic powerhouse. The country
> counts just 10 Olympic
> > medals – almost
> > all of them in field hockey. Its domination of squash
> is a thing of the
> > past, and the successes of its sighted cricket team
> have been overshadowed
> > recently
> > by a match-fixing scandal.
> >
> > But when it comes to blind cricket, Pakistan is the
> undisputed king.
> >
> > After finishing runner-up in the first World Cup in
> 1998, Pakistan won the
> > next two including the last one in 2006. Since then,
> the Pakistanis have
> > thumped
> > every team that crossed their path.
> >
> > Most blind cricket connoisseurs inside and outside
> Pakistan attribute the
> > country's success to its strong infrastructure. The
> Pakistan Blind Cricket
> > Council,
> > whose motto is "We are blind, but we are playing with
> visionary spirit,"
> > organizes several national tournaments a year, and
> players on the
> > international
> > squad are semi-professionals who receive a monthly
> stipend of $90 to $130.
> >
> > Blind cricket traces its origins to the 1920s in
> Australia when blind people
> > listening to a cricket series on the radio decided to
> give it a go. The game
> > was introduced to Pakistan in the 1960s when it was
> played with a ball made
> > of wicker filled with bottle caps. An experiment in
> the 1970s with metal
> > balls
> > was short-lived.
> >
> > "We made metal balls with steel, but it was very
> dangerous," said Syed
> > Sultan Shah, the chairman of Pakistan's blind cricket
> council. "There were
> > many injuries."
> >
> > There are a few minor adjustments to the rules, mostly
> around bowling, which
> > has to be done underarm, for instance. The result is a
> fluid game where the
> > trick for the batsman is to send the ball flying to
> make it harder for the
> > opposing team's fielders.
> >
> > "It is difficult to catch the ball, because when the
> ball is in the air
> > there is no sound available," said Mohammed Jafar
> Iqbal, a newcomer on the
> > Indian
> > team.
> >
> > Blind cricket has avoided the kind of corruption that
> plagues the sighted
> > game, most notably with the recent jailing in the U.K.
> of three Pakistani
> > cricketers.
> > They were found guilty in a British court of
> corruption charges relating to
> > attempting to fix a 2010 match against England. Still,
> blind cricket hasn't
> > completely steered clear of controversy.
> >
> > [SB10001424052970204770404577083381154485826]
> >
> > Nicolas Brulliard
> >
> > Pakistan blind cricket batsman Masood Jan prepares to
> hit the ball in their
> > first match against India. Jan holds the record for
> the highest individual
> > score
> > in a World Cup match.
> >
> > Blind cricket players are classified into categories
> according to the
> > severity of their disability. This matters because an
> 11-member team is
> > required to
> > count at least four players who have no sight at all,
> and the scores posted
> > by those players count double. It turns out some blind
> players are not as
> > blind
> > as they say.
> >
> > "People do fake medical certificates, and it's a major
> challenge," said
> > George Abraham, the Indian founding chairman of the
> World Blind Cricket
> > Council,
> > in a telephone interview. "It's like doping at the
> Olympics."
> >
> > The issue peaked in 2008 during England's tour of
> Australia when one of the
> > blind English players was deemed suspiciously adept by
> an Australian fan.
> > England
> > denied that anything was amiss, but the affair has not
> been forgotten in
> > Australia.
> >
> > "It has been an issue," said Graham Coulton, the
> former manager of
> > Australia's blind cricket team, said in a telephone
> interview from Perth,
> > Australia.
> > "Some countries don't think so, but Australia does.
> We're hoping England
> > will do, too."
> >
> > In the wake of the Australia-England dispute, cricket
> authorities who govern
> > the game decided to require completely blind players
> to wear black-out
> > glasses
> > during play.
> >
> > Pakistan's biggest issue has been finding opponents to
> play. The last World
> > Cup, originally scheduled for this year, was scuttled
> for lack of funds, and
> > Pakistani cricketers were denied visas to England on
> concerns that the
> > players would bolt once they stepped on English soil
> – a claim Pakistan
> > deemed ridiculous.
> >
> > Also, teams haven't exactly been lining up to come to
> Pakistan. Since a
> > March 2009 armed attack on the Sri Lankan sighted
> cricket team during a
> > visit to
> > Lahore, only Nepal's blind cricketers have dared make
> the trip.
> >
> > So it was with much anticipation that Pakistan
> prepared to welcome India
> > recently. Mr. Razzaq said he was confident but warned
> his teammates of
> > India's
> > "slim and fast" players. He also donned another
> player's jersey for the
> > final practice to hide his identity and confuse any
> Indian spies.
> > "Everything is
> > possible here," he chuckled.
> >
> > Indian coach Ramakant Satam said that Pakistani
> officials "welcomed us very
> > warmly" but the competition was hot as the series
> opened in Lahore.
> >
> > At one of the eastern Pakistani city's historic
> cricket grounds, hundreds of
> > spectators congregated around the oval field. The
> Pakistani and Indian teams
> > sported green and sky-blue outfits, respectively, but
> most of those in
> > attendance – bused in from the region's blind
> schools – listened rather than
> > watched.
> > With Pakistan batting first, India kept the hosts'
> score low through
> > efficient bowling and fielding – including a rare
> aerial catch by jubilant
> > Indian
> > captain Shekhar Naik. Mr. Shah, the head of Pakistan's
> blind cricket
> > council, followed the match anxiously on the
> sidelines. "This is not a good
> > score,"
> > he said of Pakistan's performance.
> >
> > After a mandatory cup of sugary and milky tea at
> halftime, Pakistan's
> > players did an even better job at containing their
> opponents' offense and
> > won the
> > match with a comfortable margin. Pakistan easily won
> the six-game series
> > five to one, registering only one defeat over a
> disputed interpretation of
> > the
> > rules.
> >
> > Mr. Razzaq declared himself satisfied that Pakistan
> had once again
> > demonstrated its superiority despite
> stronger-than-usual opposition. He is
> > planning to
> > retire following the next World Cup in December 2012
> in Bangalore, India,
> > where he once again predicts Pakistan will emerge
> triumphant. "Of course,
> > winning
> > is a good habit," he said with a smile.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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