The friendly match at Urana Road Oval on Sunday was used as a warm-up game for the ACT ahead of the National Blind Championships in Adelaide from December 27 to January 8.

The ACT team had plenty of local talent on show, with six players in the representative side coming from the Albury-Wodonga region.

“It was a really good hitout for the ACT boys,” Australia coach, Albury’s Neil Mackay, said.

“It gave them a chance to really work on their structure ahead of the championships.”

“I was also keeping an eye out for players who impress me. I’m always doing that.”

New City cricketer Josh Fluss said it was an interesting experience to play with vision impaired goggles.

“You’re obviously out of your comfort zone,” he said.

“We’re used to being able to see everything and when you take away that vision it certainly makes it a lot harder.”

“It was a new experience and it was good to have a crack at it, as well as giving the other boys a hand in their cricket endeavours.”

“All the boys had a good time.”

The first game of blind cricket was played in Melbourne in 1922, it’s now played around the world, with a Blind World Cup held every four years.

Blind cricket varies from regular cricket in a number of ways.

The ball is bowled underarm and must bounce at least twice before reaching the batsman.

The sweep shot is the favoured technique of most batmen to maximise the chance of hitting the ball,

The ball also makes a rattling noise so it can be heard when it’s coming towards a player.

Neil Mackay hoped that the match with New City would become an annual fixture.