Cricket player hopes to join first blind World Cup

A visually-impaired cricket player is hoping to take the world stage in November at the first Blind Women’s T20 World Cup in India.

Jess Lowe, from West Bridgford in Nottinghamshire, grew up in a “cricket family”, spending summer enjoying matches at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground.

As a teenager the sports fan – who has cerebral palsy, learning disabilities and a visual impairment – found a community in playing the sport.

Now the 25-year-old is hoping to join England Women’s Visually Impaired Team for the first international competition of its kind.

“It would be amazing. I don’t really have the words to describe [how it would feel],” Miss Lowe said of making it to India.

As well as being a leap forward in her cricketing career, the competition in India could also be the first time Jess has travelled abroad.

Miss Lowe had participated in various sports before she was introduced to cricket for the visually impaired in 2017.

It was a step up from the batting and bowling with her dad, Nick Lowe, in the back garden, but “she gave it a go and loved it”, he said.

Mr Lowe said due to his daughter’s various needs, cricket was the first sport that offered her a “level playing field”.

It also helped her and her parents realise the severity of her sight problems.

In the game, Miss Lowe is classed as a B2 player within the three-tier classification system which categorises the players’ level of sight.

“I have tunnel vision,” she said. “So if you think of looking through a Polo mint, that’s what I can see.”

Miss Lowe previously played for blind cricket teams based in Nottingham and Derbyshire before they both closed, and currently plays for the Yorkshire Vikings.

“I absolutely love it. I really don’t want it to end,” she said.

Mr Lowe added: “It’s great to see her being able to do something she loves, on her level, and with players of a like mind.

“It’s quite empowering to see that happening.”

The Blind Cricket England and Wales charity is now fundraising to raise enough money for the team to be able to travel to India for the competition.

The overall cost of the team’s travel and other expenses during the T20 is expected to be £60,000.

Kathryn Jelfs, captain of England Women’s Visually Impaired Team, said she hoped the team’s involvement in the world cup would encourage others to get involved.

“We’re all incredibly excited and we’re all trying to think of ways to raise funds,” she added. “We’re desperate and excited in equal measure.”

The 44-year-old said there had been men’s World Cups since 1998 but there had never been one for the women’s game.

“This World Cup would mean the world to us,” Ms Jelfs said.