A BLIND cricketer is campaigning to raise the profile of the sport and encourage other partially-sighted people to try it for themselves.

Adele Waterfall-Brown, from Darlington, can only see three metres in front of her and is registered blind.

Yet despite her disability, the 27- year-old regularly plays for Durham Visibly Impaired Cricket Club, which has blind and partially-sighted members from across the region, and is urging other partially-sighted people to take up the sport and join the team.

Miss Waterfall-Brown, who carried the Olympic torch through Middridge, near Newton Aycliffe , in June, said: “At school, I never played cricket as they didn’t know how to adapt it for my sight.

“It was only when I was older that I was introduced to blind cricket and I really enjoyed it. It’s great because we all have similar disabilities so we can all talk about similar things and we all understand each other.

“It can be quite frustrating and hard having a visual disability, so to have other people around you who understand what it’s like can be really nice.”

Miss Waterfall-Brown met her partner, John Hawkins, 34, who is also partially-sighted, at the club and the pair are travelling to Leicester on Friday for a development weekend, to raise the profile of the sport.

She said: “The weekend is a chance for every player to compete in a tournament against teams from all over the UK.

“We are hoping the event will raise the profile of the sport and we can hopefully recruit some more players.”

The team is currently 11-strong, and additional players are always welcomed.

Players do not need any previous experience and anyone who is interested in joining the team can contact Richard Boggie on 0191-285-8640 or visit the club’s Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/151955888162725

Blind cricket is a specially-adapted version of the game that uses a significantly larger ball filled with ball bearings, allowing partially-sighted players to see it, and completely blind players to hear it. The wickets are also much larger.