Australian women's blind cricket team has been competing in its first international tournament
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Australia’s women’s blind cricket team has been competing in their first international tournament at the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Games.
The team made their debut at the competition over the weekend with a seven-wicket win over England.
It marked the first time an Australian women’s team had competed in blind cricket in an international capacity.
For the longest time, the country did not have a women’s team, meaning that vision-impaired women could only play elite-level cricket by competing against men.
However, Blind Cricket Australia has since launched a women’s team, captained by Julie Newman and coached by Taylah Purton.
While traditionally a sport that requires a lot of hand-eye coordination, the style of play is slightly manipulated in blind cricket.
Have a look below for an idea of how the sport works - it’s seriously impressive.
Purton spoke to ABC about the passion she had for the athletes and the sport.
She said: “For them to be able to play the sport they love and for me to be able to help them is huge. I love it.”
Adding: “If we could get the women's program to a space similar to where the men are at now in the next five to 10 years, that would be absolutely awesome.”
Meanwhile, Rich Moxley, the chair of Blind Cricket Australia, hailed the milestone of having a women’s team compete on the world stage.
He said: “At the end of the day, for sport to be a sport for all, to be properly integrated, there shouldn't be a delineation between the support that's offered for one group over another group.”
Over at the World Games in Birmingham, England and India are the only other team teams competing, with the sport making its debut at the event.
The teams have all been playing each other twice with the top two teams at the top of the table playing each other in the grand final on August 26.
Australia’s fixture the next day against India ended in a defeat by eight wickets, while England had their revenge on Tuesday (August 22) winning the match by just 12 runs.
Meanwhile, the men’s team suffered defeat in their opening game against England, and then to India the following day.
