IN THE glorious sunshine, at Darlington Railway Athletic Club, two opposing teams battle it out to win a game of cricket. The players are blind and partially sighted!

Lancashire Lions compete with Durham Visually Impaired Cricket Club, to outwit each other in a match that can last up to six hours.

It takes a long time to get the players into position during play. The most severely impaired have runners to help them.

John Hawkins, who has tunnel vision and is the Captain for Durham, said: “I am looking forward to playing.” Sheraz Chohan, well-spoken Captain for Lancashire VICC, is keen to get on the field. Teams have graded disabilities, of visually impairment.

These range from B1, the most severe, to B3, the least. Durham play mixed sex.

They play in the Northern League, which encourages the development of new starters.

A ball filled with ball bearings, the size of a small football, rattles so that the players can hear it and locate its position. Larger stumps are used.

Ron Young, coach for Durham VICC said: “We had some initial funding from the Primary Trust and we raise money by selling club ties, to anybody who gets ‘duck’, first ball.

“This means that they are out for no runs, first ball.

“The money filters through from Primary Clubs, and then goes to the County Clubs to help with visually impaired cricket.

“In one of our recent games, our opposing side, played with ‘sim spec’s on, to mimic eye sight problems.

We raised over a thousand pounds!”

The idea is to have two teams, one here in Darlington and one at Washington .

Other sources of funding are from Tees Valley and Tyne and Wear Sports.

New members are wanted to train at Darlington.

Contact Ron Young the Disability Cricket Development Officer for the Durham Cricket Board on 07801090661.