Can you play Cricket with one eye?

[KnightSurfer]

is it possible to play cricket with one eye,
is anyone here aware of such individuals whom have played cricket with one eye. just want to how the adapted to play cricket in such circumstances

 

[Uppercut]

Ian Healy managed it.

 

[kingdamo]

It wouldn't take as long to get their 'eye' in?

 

[Burgey]

Ollie Milburn couldn't. But it would depend on what level you aspire to, eye imagine.

If you're looking at top level stuff, then I doubt you could do it, but I'd see no reason why you couldn't play at a lower level. I'd recommend focusing on your dreams, and having a go at it.

 

[zaremba]

The Nawab of Pataudi junior.
Also, less successfully, Colin Milburn

 

[KnightSurfer]

lol no it doesnt take that long to get my eye in, esp when the half the ground dont seem to exist either
yea I suppose so, I have no problem in bowling, but quite few problems batting,
I was jus wondering is there special excercise one can do to improve the preception

 

[Uppercut]

I imagine depth perception might be a problem with batting. I'd recommend you ask your optician if he knows anything about it.

To answer your initial question seriously, you'd be foolish to let something like that stop you if you like playing cricket.

 

[Burgey]

lol no it doesnt take that long to get my eye in, esp when the half the ground dont seem to exist either
yea I suppose so, I have no problem in bowling, but quite few problems batting,
I was jus wondering is there special excercise one can do to improve the preception

Not sure about whether there are exercises available. maybe your opthamologist might be able to help with that.

Seriously mate, if you want to try it, have a go at it. Reckon you'll be fine.

 

[Richard]

Ollie Milburn couldn't. But it would depend on what level you aspire to, eye imagine.

If you're looking at top level stuff, then I doubt you could do it, but I'd see no reason why you couldn't play at a lower level. I'd recommend focusing on your dreams, and having a go at it.

I see you're a pupil of fine puns Mr Burge - and what a shame it has been such a long time since we saw the things lashing down on CW. Do eye spy some more on the brow of the hill? Don't mind if I lens you a hand TBH.

(And BTW David Fulton played on with no little success after having the sight in his right eye permanently damaged. Though he tended to become something of an all-or-nothing merchant thereafter, hinting that maybe he struggled to, well... get his eye in, even though he was the same fine player after he had done so)

 

[vic_orthdox]

Am good mates with a bloke from my local club, who lost his eye in a car accident. He was an reasonably right hand batsman, and lost his left eye. Supposedly that had a far greater effect that those who lose their "back" eye when facing the bowler. He still was a reasonable bowler, but was a pretty big liability with the bat, against balls with any speed at all. Slog the odd couple, and that was about it.

 

[Joe Ninety]

You could also ask some of your peers about it too. But seriously I'd imagine that fielding, especially catching, would be intensely hard.

 

[four_or_six]

I know someone who played club cricket who had all but lost the sight in one eye. He was playing at quite a bit lower level than he had been, but he seemed to be enjoying it and he was holding his own fine.

 

[Langeveldt]

I know Peter Roebuck has woken up with a red eye on a few occasions and he played to quite a high standard

 

[SJS]

It is very tough.

When I was playing grade cricket, Pataudi was the Indian captain so naturally we wondered how difficult it must have been for him. So we decided one day to try it out at the nets. Five of us came early to the nets and put a patch on the right eye and tried to bat. It was not easy. The easiest was playing the faster bowlers who we played everyday and when they bowled half volleys and we could guess (rather than make out) when the ball was arriving. But to spinners and medium pacers, good length deliveries and balls which were slower or faster than we guessed, it was not possible to guess how far the ball was. You almost always ended up playing too early or too late.

 

[Redbacks]

Eye did my final year project using a stereovision camera for measuring distance and therefore size/area. Bit of background: There are taken two images are they are then placed onto one another. Closer objects will have a larger disparity between their relative positions in the images, so using geometry and info on the lens we calculate distance. Points at infinity disparity = 0 (distant background dependent on our ability to differentiate between pixels).

So I assume it's similar for the human eyes when batting, your at a disadvantage because using one eye you have to analyse the scene using memory and previous experience of the bowler (which is likely to fail you occasionally) to judge how far away the ball is and it's velocity. Subtle changes of pace would thus throw your timing out, as SJS's experience perhaps suggests.

 

[Son Of Coco]

No, you'd need a bat to hit it with.

Actually I played a game against a guy who was a very good bat (in his earlier years) and I'm pretty sure he only had one eye. He looked great when one of our bowlers was coming over the wicket to him (he was left handed), but seemed to lose it completely and got bowled all ends up when he switched to around. Not sure if this was a problem due to his eye or something else though.

I can't see any reason why you couldn't. I'm sure you could adapt if you needed to.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Tiger Pataudi had a test average of nigh on 35, so it's possible to make a go of it.

Does rather make one wonder how good he might've been had he not lost the sight (to all intents and purposes) in his right eye tho.

Different sport, but Gordon Banks, England's world cup winning goalkeeper from 1966 and one of the top dozen or so keepers ever, lost an eye in a car accident and tried to make a comeback but was never the same afterwards.

 

[turnstyle]

had a team mate who had played a fair bit of 1st and 2nd grade cricket in Perth try to make a comeback into 4s after an infection casued by a dirty contact lens.

He kept spooning it to cover, and had no idea when fielding. He gave up after 2-3 games, and went back to social cricket.

On a seperate note - i've played against a bloke who was a pretty good bat with only one arm

 

[G.I.Joe]

Pataudi averaged 34 or something in Test cricket with one eye. So, it is definitely possible.

 

[stumpski]

Must have something to do with which eye it is, surely? The three mentioned here Pataudi, Milburn and Fulton were all right-hand batsmen. Milburn lost the sight in his left eye, the 'leading' eye if you like, so I imagine he had to adopt a more square-on stance to compensate; maybe that's why it didn't work for him. With Pataudi and Fulton it was the right eye that was lost or affected, so perhaps it wasn't as serious for them. Fulton had a prolific season in 2001 which took him close to the England side (arguably should have opened in place of Atherton that season) but even after his accident was still a pretty good player.