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  • 8 months ago
Have you heard about deaf cricket?

Well, Trinidad and Tobago will be preparing a team for a bilateral T20 and One-Day series against India in a couple months.

And coaching the T&T side is former national cricketer Anthony Dharson.

Reporter Vinod Narwani and cameraman Immanuel Nunez were at the Queen's Park Oval recently to learn more.
Transcript
00:00These Deaf cricketers were busy at the indoor nets at the Queens Park Oval for a major tournament
00:05in a couple months time. Trinidad and Tobago will be hosting India for three one-dayers
00:08and three T20 matches in the month of May. Coaching the national team is Anthony Dawson
00:13who has been involved in the sport all his life. And how well is Deaf cricket known in
00:18this country? Well they are not really known by the public because this is something unique
00:23to Trinidad and Tobago. It was started by Tim Neal who was the president of the Trinidad
00:28and Tobago Deaf Cricketers Association and we are just breaking in as far as cricketers
00:38concerned because a lot of the players they have not played any game until about three
00:42weeks ago when this happened with the combined all-stars team. North Zone asked us to take
00:47on some of these players to give them some match practice. Dawson played four first class
00:52matches for Trinidad and Tobago which makes him have a better understanding of how to
00:56deal with the cricketers. Speaking of which, the 64-year-old happily accepted the coaching
01:00job and enjoys working with the players. I decided to take them on because it's not only
01:05a challenge but it's also an honor to be coaching players like this because I also signed and
01:12it's an opportunity for me to give something back to the community. The practice sessions
01:18for the players are not in one place and vary from venue to venue. Dawson believes
01:22the national cricketers would complete their homework by the time the Indians touch the
01:26shores. We should be ready because we are playing in the North Zone Reserve Division
01:31at Queen's Park, Savannah. We are practicing on Mondays at the cricket center in Hoover
01:37and Queen's Park has allowed us to use the oval facilities indefinitely. So I tell you
01:44we should be prepared and what we are working on now is getting the players fit and getting
01:48them to understand the fundamentals of the game while I strategize and we are also studying
01:53Indian. Tenille Smith is the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Deaf Cricket Association
01:57and in order to communicate with her one has to go through Terence Gopal who is a sign
02:02language interpreter.
02:33I made arrangements for them to come over here because India is actually one of the
02:39strongest cricket teams in the world right now, Deaf Indian team. So I was very excited
02:47to know that they could come here and expose my team to them. Another former TNT cricketer
02:55is also a part of the coaching staff. He is none other than 43 year old Ernil Ryan who
03:00is the assistant coach. For him it's a joy working with the players.
03:04Firstly I think cricket is a lovely game that's supposed to be spread about everybody of all
03:12class, creed, gender, what have you. I have been coaching for the past ten years or so
03:19and I started off with girls and I went to boys and then have an opportunity now to deal
03:25with the deaf or disabled or even the blind. I think it's an opportunity where you can
03:30spread the game and maybe share with others what you would have loved or experienced from
03:36playing cricket over these years.
03:38The six matches between the two countries are to be played at two venues, the Brian
03:42Lauer Cricket Academy and the National Cricket Centre. Vinod Naumani, TV6 Sport.
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