Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

A handful of spectators witnessed four games of International T20 cricket took place at Blake Park last Friday and Saturday..

The New Zealand Blind Cricket team, known as the Blindcaps, took on their Bangladesh counterparts in what started out as a five game T20 series and a one-day game, split between the Western Bay of Plenty and Smallbone Park in Rotorua.

Visa issues saw the visitors delayed and the games were rescheduled.

Four matches were completed on Friday and Saturday, before the final match on Sunday was eventually abandoned because of the wet weather.

Sideline Sid caught up with the action on Friday morning and was hugely impressed with the performances from both sides.

The Blindcaps wore their New Zealand uniforms with absolute pride in their first internationals on home soil.

The skill and professional approach by both sides was amazing, with the Blindcaps absolutely thrilled to be finally playing international opponents at home.

While New Zealand has participated in two One-Day World Cups in India and Pakistan in 1998 and 2006 respectively and had played Australia over the ditch, there's been a lack of domestic support to host international sides at home.

Prior to the start of the home series, NZBCA Board Chair Donna McCaskill said "The game has now grown to a level where we have community support which allows us to invite countries to New Zealand to play”.

'It is something we have wanted to do for a long time and at one point we did have our hand up to host a World Cup, but we had to quickly withdraw due to lack of financial backing that comes with hosting an event at that level. What makes this different is we now have player support and community engagement and involvement”.

Lack of funding has not stood in the way of the Blindcaps hosting Bangladesh or preparing for a tour to South Africa in 2020.

In good old-fashioned kiwi number eight wire ingenuity, the Blindcaps have embarked on the Cookie Project with "Fundraising Cookies".

The Cookie Project is a social enterprise that employs Kiwi's with disabilities to make delicious cookies.

The Blindcaps have been hands-on with the project cutting, rolling, baking and packing the humble little cookies, in the knowledge that they have their cricket future in their own hands.

Blind Cricket has three categories of vision impaired players, from totally blind (B1) through to partially blind (B2) and partially sighted (B3). Each team much have a minimum of four B1 players and no more than four B3 players, with the remainder of the team consisting of B2.

Blind Cricket encompasses the rules of a standard game of cricket with several variations in equipment.

The ball is larger than a regular cricket ball and is filled with ball bearings to make the ball audible.

The stumps are made of hollow steel pipes which produce a loud sound when hit or struck.

Bowling is underarm with the ball required to bounce on its way to the batsman with plenty of communication prior to the ball leaving the bowlers hand.

Blind cricket relies on the common use of the 'sweep shot', in order to provide the maximum chance of the bat hitting the ball.

The Bangladesh Blind team, who play regular fixtures on the Indian continent, won all four T20 games, with the encounters giving the Blindcaps their first thrills and enjoyment of playing an international series at home.