Sharjah: Their passion for cricket is blind and they are blind too. Pakistan and England's cricketers will clash in a cricket series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The UAE will also clinch a place in the history of blind cricket by hosting the first day-night match on April 8.
Pakistan are the reigning world champions.
Syed Sultan Shah, the chairman of the Pakistan Blind Cricket Council, in an exclusive interview to Gulf News, said: "Matches will be played between two teams of 11 players comprising four totally blind players categorised as B1, three partially blind players categorised as B2 and four partially sighted players known as B3," he said.
Elaborating on the categories, Shah said: "B1 players are totally blind, or in other words with no light perception in either eye. B2 players have vision of three to four metres while B3 players have a vision of six to seven metres."
The matches will be played with a white ball with ball bearings inside that rattle when the ball is delivered. The bowling will be under-arm. The middle of the pitch will be clearly marked with a line across. The ball has to bounce once on either side of the mid-pitch line before it reaches the batting crease. Failure to do so will result in a no-ball being called.
All runs scored off the bat by a B1 batsman will be doubled and will be credited to the batsman. B1 players will be distinguished on the field of play by a single digit shirt. B2 players will be distinguished by double digits and the B3 by three digit numbers. There will be a 12th man for each category.
The bowler will have to say "ready" to the batsman when he is set to bowl, to which the batsman will have to say "yes". At the point of delivery the bowler must say "play". Failure to do so will result in a no-ball being called. The pitch will be 22 yards long and three feet wide. The boundary will be a minimum of 45 yards from the centre of the stumps.
B1 bowlers are allowed to run and bowl. But B2 bowlers, who can take up to 15 steps, will have to inform the umpire the number of steps they are taking.
The Sharjah Cricket Council authorities have made all the required arrangements for this special series.
"We are even ready to host World Blind Championship. This could be just a beginning of many blind cricket tournaments to be held here," said Mazhar Khan, the secretary of the Sharjah Cricket Council.
