The Bay of Plenty Blind Cricket Festival Day is to be held at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui on Sunday.
Blind cricket was extremely strong in New Zealand during the 1990s, with the game played in a number of regions throughout the country. However, playing numbers dropped dramatically, before the New Zealand Blind Cricket Association restructured and put in place a strategic plan to develop the game.
A Bay of Plenty blind team was formed in February 2014, under the auspices of Bay of Plenty Blind Sports Club. Initially there were just a handful of players, which has grown to a dozen team members. The Blind Cricket Day on Sunday is about recruiting more interested blind and partially sighted players, and publicising the game to the wider community.
It is hoped that the restart of a national competition will lead to formation of further New Zealand blind cricket representative teams. On Sunday, blind cricket players from Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Manukau South are coming together to play a 40 over game on the same ground that the Black Caps will play Sri Lanka during January 2016.
There is also an invitation for fully-sighted supporters to don simulation spectacles and experience blind cricket during the day. The main adaptation of blind cricket is an audible ball filled with ball bearings, with the ball being bowled underarm.
