Festival fever for VI cricket

The North Visually Impaired Cricket Board and Blind Cricket England and Wales are hosting a festival of cricket this weekend.

The nine-a-side competition will be held by The University of Nottingham at the Grove Farm Sports Fields where four pitches will be in use.

Cricket for visually impaired people is a fast growing sport played at all levels up to international level, the England team having beaten Australia in Sydney in December to win the Ashes.

This is the first festival of its kind for new and emerging players and includes a representative team from current British Blind Sport Cup holders London Metro who beat Essex at Edgbaston last month. Other counties represented include Sussex, Yorkshire, Lancashire/Cheshire, Northamptonshire and hosts Nottinghamshire.

Martyn Dobson, Community Cricket Development Officer for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, hopes players make the most out of the day.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for those taking part to enjoy playing in a competitive environment," he said.

"We hope that we can also raise awareness in the VI community locally that there is a safe and exciting version of the game that they can play from grassroots to international level.”