As explained on the front page, blind cricket resembles its sighted brother whenever possible. However, in order to make the game equally accessible to people of all sight levels, some adjustments have been made. For a start, the ball is similar in size to a volleyball, meaning that it is just small enough to be held comfortably when bowling whilst being as large as possible in order to assist those with residual vision. For those with no sight, the balls contain a
noise-making device (usually ball-bearings).

A full team may not include more than seven partially sighted players (classified as "B2s", "B3s" and "B4s"). Each team must field at least three "B1s" (commonly referred to as "totals"), who are those players with no sight at all or only light perception - in other words, they cannot distinguish images, objects or outlines. The final team member should be either another B1 or, if the club have such a player at their disposal, they may include a "low partial" (a recently introduced category which fills the gap between B1s and B2s, eligibility of which must be granted by British Blind Sport's cricket committee).

To help youngsters pick up the game, all partially sighted players under the age of 16 are viewed as carrying the sight classification of B2, and under-13s are viewed as B1s when batting.

The following rules have been integrated into the regular game to ensure that people of all sight categories can play a full part in each match:

BATTING
B1s do not run for themselves, but must have a partially sighted runner
B1s are never considered to be out of their crease, so cannot be stumped or run out (although their runners can be)
A low partial batsman cannot be stumped
B1s are allocated "double runs", so a single is recorded as two runs to the batsman
B1s given out LBW are viewed as "half-out" and may continue their innings until their wicket is next taken

BOWLING
The ball must bounce at least once before the popping crease of a partially sighted player, or else a no ball will be signalled
The ball must pitch at least twice before reaching the popping crease of a B1 or low partial
A no ball will be given if the ball bounces more than 4 times before the popping crease of any batsman
Umpires may use discretion in the case of under-16 bowlers regarding the four-bounce rule
A B1 bowler must bowl at least three overs in every ten
A B1 bowler may use any one-armed action to bowl the ball, but nobody may bowl using two hands at the point of delivery
All players must call "play" before releasing the ball, or else a no ball will be awarded
It is also common ettiquette to ask the batsman if they are ready before calling "play"

FIELDING
B1s are allowed to catch the ball if it bounces once on the ground, provided that it does not bounce again

A full list of regulations related specifically to blind cricket can be obtained from the BBS cricket committee's chairman David Gavrilovic, who can be emailed at
davidgavrilovic@yahoo.co.uk