Lack of Indian participation a concern for SA blind cricket
WHILE cricket enjoys tremendous popularity in Indian communities, the sport does not have high rates of participation among the blind community – a matter of deep concern for the founder of KwaZulu-Natal Blind Cricket and the manager of the SA blind cricket team, Shane Mahabeer.
“It is disappointing that there are only two Indians in the KwaZulu-Natal team and none in the South African squad. I know that we have some talented visually-impaired people in KZN and they must contact us and we will give them the training. I am sure that they will enjoy the game,” said Mahabeer.
According to Mahabeer, there have been a few Indians who previously played for the blind SA team, namely Desigan Pillay, Ragunathan Thambiran and Mukesh Parmeswar. Notably, Reddy previously captained the national team.
“Blind cricket is the fastest growing sport in South Africa, with many provinces playing. In KZN, we have three teams playing league cricket. It is difficult to get sponsors but fortunately companies like Pak Plastics and the KZN Cricket Union as well as other smaller sponsors keep us going,” said Mahabeer.
A former employee of the Natal Blind and Deaf Society in the 1970s, Mahabeer’s efforts to promote cricket among the blind started seriously in 1998, after South Africa won the blind Cricket World Cup in India that year.
“Mr Manny Morthilall and myself were nominated to start recruiting
for a team. In 2003, the province were national runners-up and in 2004, we won the national tournament by beating Boland in the final,” he said.
Mahabeer added that KwaZuluNatal was a strong supplier of blind cricket players to the national team.
“We have some very talented players. This year, we have four players in the national squad.
Many come from disadvantaged groups. Because of their love for the game, they make it their duty to practise and attend games,” he said. Mahabeer also clarified common misconceptions associated with blind people and sport, particularly cricket.
“People think that blind people cannot play cricket because they will get hurt and can only be switchboard operators. With a specially adapted ball, they are trained to hear the ball and are made part of society. They can do most of the things that a sighted person can do,” Mahabeer said.
Blind Cricket also does not only cater for totally blind people but also for those who are partially sighted. The rules also differ compared to traditional cricket for the able-bodied to make it inclusive and fair for people who have different levels of sight.
“There are four totally blind people in the team, three partially blind and four partially sighted in the team. 40% of the overs must be bowled by the totally blind and bowling is done under arm and the batsmen mainly used the sweep shot,” said Mahabeer.
The blind Proteas cricket team last played against New Zealand prior to the pandemic, beating them 5-0 in the T20 games, and 2-0 in the One Day games which took place in Cape Town in February 2020.
They are currently preparing for games against Pakistan as well as the T20 World Cup which will be held in India from November this year.
To find out more about blind cricket or to support blind cricket initiatives, the public can contact Shane Mahabeer (Proteas team manager) on 082 491 7207 or Ndumiso Nyawose (co-ordinator) on 082 962 2006.