Blind Caps wicket keeper Ross Gilmore, of Bay of Plenty, returns the ball to the bowler against Bangladesh. Photo / George Novak
Blind Caps wicket keeper Ross Gilmore, of Bay of Plenty, returns the ball to the bowler against Bangladesh. Photo / George Novak
During the weekend, Tauranga played host to an international cricket series - with a twist.
The Blind Caps, New Zealand's blind cricket team, are living proof that you should let nothing stop you doing what you love and they hosted their Bangladesh counterparts in a five-match Twenty20 series.
The lonelocal representative on the Blind Caps side was Ross Gilmore, who was born and bred in Tauranga but has lived in Rotorua for the last two years where he has set up a blind sports club.
The players are put into three different categories of blindness; B1 - totally blind, B2 - partially blind and B3 - partially sighted. Each team has to have at least four B1 players and no more than four B3 players. B2 players make up the difference.
Gilmore is categorised as a B3 - he has ocular albinism, meaning a need for dark glasses to ease the impact of bright or intense light and slightly different prescriptions for each eye - measuring distance has its challenges. He has always loved cricket and being able to play the game has given him a new lease on life.
"This is my fifth year playing blind cricket. I knew the captain of the team and he got in touch because they were trying to rebuild blind cricket in New Zealand. I went along to a have-a-go session and just kept going back.
"I enjoy cricket just in general, I'm glued to the TV for most Black Caps and White Ferns games, but outside of that it's a game that I can play and have a chance of being reasonably good at.
"Being vision impaired it's not that easy to get involved in team sports, you can't just rock up and get a game. To be able to actually play a game and actually be on level pegging with others of my own sight category and potentially be good at it, that's why I kept coming back," he said.
Bay of Plenty's Ross Gilmore celebrates a wicket for the Blind Caps against Bangladesh. Photo / George Novak
He said it was exciting to be hosting Bangladesh in a home series and the team would be better off for playing against such high-quality opposition.
"To host in the Bay where my family are and being the one local in the team, it's really quite an honour and a priviledge to be able to play here.
"There's quite a bit of a skill difference, Bangladesh have the luxury of playing India and Pakistan all the time whereas we're pretty isolated over here. Obviously their selection pool is a lot bigger than ours.
"It's good for us to be challenged, for us to be playing any other country is great. The only way you get better is by playing teams that are better than you."
In 2017, Gilmore travelled to India to play in the Blind Cricket T20 World Cup which he said was a valuable experience, not just on the pitch but off it as well.
"That was quite an eye opener, we were away for 16 days and played nine games. The cricket is one thing and at that stage New Zealand hadn't played a lot of international cricket.
"But, just going to India and seeing how the other half live was an eye opener as well. You can tell where the money is because there's green grass, they can afford to water it. There's all the poverty so from both a cricket and personal experience it was quite a trip."
During the series in Tauranga, Bangladesh flexed their muscles, taking a 4-0 series win (the fifth match on Sunday was rained off).
How blind cricket works:
Blind cricket is much like the standard game but includes several variations to ensure it is as inclusive as possible. The ball used is considerably larger than the standard cricket ball and filled with ball bearings. The audible ball helps the player to sense the direction of the ball and play the game. The stumps are made of hollow steel pipes welded into one set to allow a blind player to touch it and orient themselves as well as produce a sound when struck by a ball. The ball must have pitched twice for a completely blind batsmen and once when bowled to partially sighted. Totally Blind players cannot be stumped out and can take a catch after one bounce. The runs they score are worth double.
Blind Caps v Bangladesh T20 Series Results
Match One: Bangladesh won by six wickets. Match Two: Bangladesh won by 115 runs. Match Three: Bangladesh won by 75 runs. Match Four: Bangladesh won by eight wickets. Match Five: Rained off.
