Aiming to bowl ‘em over
Good timing and keen hearing will help Steve Donnelly smash his opponents out of the park at the coming Blind Cricket Council World Cup for Twenty20.
The Hamilton man admits he never liked cricket much when he was younger, probably because he couldn’t see the ball.
Cataracts began clouding his eyes when he was a teen to the point where he was left with sight only in his right eye.
But now he’s hoping to head to India to play in the Blind Cricket Council World Cup, which is a version of the sport adapted for blind and partially sighted players.
The New Zealand team will leave late January 2017 for the two-week tournament. It will be the first time New Zealand has competed in a Blind Cricket World Cup since 2006.
Donnelly became aware of the sport from a neighbour, who was also sight-impaired, and started playing in 2001.
Donnelly he was born with cataracts and he was just 15 when doctors began to explore surgery options. An operation on the right eye provided no improvement but a later operation on the left turned out better results.
‘‘That was amazing, it was like someone got the water blaster out and cleaned everything. It was so bright,’’ Donnelly said.
However, the left eye was to fail again and in the space of two years Donnelly had roughly 13 operations to correct it.
‘‘The more they operated the worse it got and eventually I went blind in my left eye.
‘‘As I was going blind in my left eye, I got more sight in my right eye. That’s the sight I’ve got now.’’
Donnelly plays in the B1 ‘‘totally blind’’ category and so ironically wears glasses that shield the little vision he has left. He said he plays better wearing the glasses, and listens for the ball rather than watching for it.
There are some differences between sighted and blind cricket, he said. For instance, players bowl underarm, and there is a lot of calling out, and saying ‘‘mine’’ when running after the ball.
‘‘Sometimes there’s collisions, but if you communicate there’s no collisions.’’
Each player of the 17-strong team need to raise $2500 to travel and compete in India. Donnelly has been fundraising by selling chocolate buttons and soap. To help, visit: givealittle.co.nz/ cause/nzbcat20wc2017