A CRICKET match between a partially sighted team and an Oxfordshire league club has been hailed a success.

Oxfordshire Cricket Association team Cairns Fudge took on a team of partially sighted players in the one-off fixture at Wheatley Park School on Sunday.

The event was designed to raise the profile of the visually impaired version of the sport.

Despite poor weather, a closely fought tie ended in a narrow victory for the sighted team, whose members wore special goggles to simulate varying degrees of visual disability.

The game is played on a standard pitch using a large ball with noisy ball-bearings inside so partially sighted players can judge where it is.

The Oxford Association for the Blind (OAB) team scored 99 for two off 15 overs before Cairns Fudge reached 100 for two with just three balls to spare.

Visually impaired cricketer Kevin Pamphilon, from Oxfordshire group VIBNO (Visually Impaired But Not Old), said: “It was a good, close game. You need four people who are totally blind to play a proper game, but it could take off in Oxfordshire.”

James Race, the vice captain of Cairns Fudge, said: “It was a fantastic day and great fun.

“Wearing the goggles was really tough – it was quite an awakening to some of our guys.

“Nine of us raised a smidgen over £1,000 for the OAB in the Town & Gown Fun Run in the morning and it was nice to meet the people who the money will go to help.”

Organiser Ben Allcock, of the OAB, said: “The whole thing went down well. Everyone involved said they’d like to do it again.”

To get involved with visually impaired cricket or VIBNO, call 01865 725595.