A CHILDHOOD dream has come true for Mike Hamilton.
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The 23-year-old will play for Australia against South Africa in a blind cricket Test series this month.
Then in January he’ll head to New Zealand as captain of an Australian development team.
“In some ways it is a dream come true,” he said.
“I’ve always loved cricket and I guess every young boy in Australia dreams of wearing the baggy green, but of course with my disability it just never seemed possible.”
All that changed 18 months ago when Hamilton, along with other sight-impaired cricket lovers on the Border, were invited to take part in a blind cricket game.
It led to a number of Border boys making an ACT team.
“It all just went from there,” Hamilton said.
“We have also been lucky to strike up a partnership with the Albury Cricket Club who look after us with training and are just generally supportive of our cricket.
“It’s a great honour to be picked in the Australian team and even greater to lead a group of under 25s to New Zealand in January.”
Hamilton describes himself as half blind — in the eyes of the law he is legally blind, he can’t drive a car.
“The easiest way to describe my condition is to use computer terms — my brain is able to handle two megabytes of data at a time but my eyes take in 10 megabytes,” he said.
“On bright days with lots of activity it is just information overload and I struggle to see anything.
“Sometimes the physio with ACT throws a towel over my head to stop it all — it is like re-booting my brain.”