by SHERRYLYN A. CLARKE

TAKE A BREAK from the Football World Cup and go and see cricket in a whole new light.

The Barbados Blind Cricket team will be taking on Guyana in their first match of the inaugural Regional Blind Cricket Competition from 10 o'clock this morning, at Carlton, Black Rock, St Michael.

At the same time, Jamaica will take on Trinidad and Tobago at the Lester Vaughan School, Cane Garden, St Thomas. Both games will be 40 overs a side.

Barbados coach Leroy Williams is promising spectators a good game based on the preparation of the Barbadians who are the most advanced of the regional teams.

"We've come a long way. Everyone is better than they were. I can see from the way they are bowling and fielding at practice that they have improved tremendously. The B2s are good, the B3s are coming on pretty well, but I concentrate more on the B1s and B2s," Williams said.

He was speaking of the three classifications of players. B1s are totally blind, B2s are partially blind in that they may be able to make out objects, while B3s are partially sighted and may be able to see objects and colours.

The team has been practising the usual fielding, batting and bowling drills.

Under the rules, a minimum of four B1s are allowed per team, three B2s and four B3s. B1s must also bowl 40 per cent of the overs (in this case 16) and are allowed a runner. The ball has objects inside it which make a sound when bowled or thrown and players rely heavily on sound.

A catalyst

Williams is hoping this tournament would be the catalyst to take the sport to the next level.

"I would like this team to win for more than one reason. It is the first championships; it is sponsored by Barbados and it is on home soil.

"The other reason is that it would be a tremendous boost for people with disabilities. Throughout the Caribbean they have been working hard to get the teams ready, and for this reason, I hope cricket would be the winner," the Barbados coach said.

Despite the early success of the team, Williams still had a lot of difficulty finding younger players. Ten-year-old Kci Ward-Ryan is the youngest and he has been with the team for about 18 months. Their most recent find is 16-year-old B2 Ricardo Manning of the Irvine Wilson School.

"It is difficult getting younger players to come through. Ricardo is a tremendous boost to the team. He can bat well, he can field well and we are working on his bowling; but there are very few coming through."

Williams made another appeal to parents who have children who may be blind or visually impaired to allow them to play, and he also appealed to all Barbadians as well to give the team their support by coming out and watching the matches.

The Team: Anderson Lowe, Errol Greenidge, Elviston Maloney, Granville Carter, Anthony Cummins (B1), Cheryl Griffith, Ann-Marie Lee, Ricardo Manning, Roger Vaughan (B2), Walter Yearwood (captain), Trevor Broomes, Tremaine Forte, Kci Ward-Ryan, Juanita Paul-Gibbs (B3), Leroy Williams (coach), Carson Henry (assistant coach), Stevenson Alleyne (manager).