– Local team manager chides ‘attitude’ of winning teams

FIVE Guyanese women, who are either blind or visually impaired, are expected to play on the West Indies Blind Cricket Team in a game against the English Blind Cricket Team in July.
Manager of the Guyana team and passionate advocate for women’s rights, Theresa Pemberton, told the Pepperpot Magazine that the game is scheduled for July 8 to 15 in Barbados. This year, there will be no regional blind cricket tournament due to financial limitations.
What is more, at the tournament, officials from the English team and other organisations will use the opportunity to train coaches and administrators for blind cricket. As such, two more persons who are visually impaired will be going for such training.
Nineteen-year-old Melieka Crawford and 20-year-old Ackila Smith are the two individuals who are expected to benefit from the training. The women who will play on the team have not yet been selected but are currently in training.

DISGRUNTLED PLAYERS
The West Indies Blind Cricket Association is said to be having some ‘teething’ problems at the moment, with the stronger teams often times trying to dictate how the organisation ought to be run.

“Some of the countries, they have this big boy, big girl attitude where blind cricket is concerned. They feel that what they say must go because they are the winners. This is the attitude they have around the place,” Pemberton expressed.
What has also been found is that, like conventional cricket, some players lack loyalty to their countries. “You find a lot of disgruntled players who want to go with the other countries and this brings a negative impact to blind cricket,” she said, adding that this is one of the issues that should be dealt with during the training.

“We have to stop telling ourselves that because we have more money as a Caribbean country, we are better than the rest,” she said. “Because they are the big players; for instance, Trinidad one year was sanctioned because they did not want to share the trophy with Jamaica; and some of them don’t want to participate because of the current president and all sorts of things. If we don’t put a grip on it and make some strong decisions and let them know this is where the buck stops, blind cricket will have problems.”

She added, “If we have weak persons within our structure at the top, we will have countries that want to dictate how the organisation should be run and it should not be that way. We are hoping that this spill off of West Indies women will send out a strong warning to the regional teams that play blind cricket.”

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Pemberton observed that some countries do not even train women and young girls who are blind to play cricket. “I have a big problem with that because blind cricket is not about men alone. It’s giving both sexes a chance in life.”
In a previous interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Pemberton said blind cricket will continue to be lobbied for, as it is a catalyst for the empowerment of persons who are blind and visually-impaired.

“For example, Ganesh Singh (member of Guyana Society for the Blind) became a recluse when he got totally blind at age 17. He became like a [piece of] house furniture, never going any place and was protected by his family. In 2005 when Guyana embarked on blind cricket, he heard it on the radio and called to find out how he could get involved. He came down that afternoon very timid and when he realised he was with blind young persons like himself; after his second training session with us, he never looked back.”
She stated that this is proof that sports can serve as a vehicle to empower people and blind cricket will continue to be a vehicle that the organisation will use to help empower blind and visually-impaired persons. “We are hoping that in raising awareness, the public will see the need to support the three blind cricketers and assist them in going,” she said. “The blind in Guyana are doing a lot. The blind and the deaf are the vehicles for persons with disability. The blind looks out for all disabilities. We are hoping that the Government and corporate Guyana can see the purpose of what we’re doing and support us.”
Blind cricket is played with a hard plastic ball, a special ball that makes a very strong sound. The stumps are laid out like conventional cricket but without bails on them. The umpire usually guides the blind persons back to the stump, which they use as a gauge to bowl.

The batsmen are bowled to underhand style and when they are about to be bowled, they are asked: “Batsman, are you ready?” When the batsman replies in the affirmative, the bowler then says, “Play!”