Episode 13 of Noisy Balls sees me sit down with the VBCA Vice President Dan Pritchard.

Dan has been involved in blind cricket since 2008 and he certainly is extremely passionate about ensuring that as many people who are blind and visually-impaired have the opportunity of participating in blind and vi sport.

We explore Dan's life growing up, as well as the numerous blind cricket tournaments that Dan has been a part of, and this episode is all about ensuring that listeners to the show are aware that blind cricket, both with the Australian ball and the international ball, is very much alive and well down at Kooyong and that whether you are a current player or a past player, you are always welcome to come down and be a part of it all.

If you are interested in either playing with the Aussie ball or giving the twenty20 a try, here are some ways in which you can get involved:

• Email the VBCA current Secretary, Jodie Hunter-Wilson, at secretary@vbca.org.au
• Send a message through to the Victorian Blind Cricket Association Facebook Page
• If you are ready to sign up straightaway, head on over to the Play Cricket website and fill in your details on their online form
• Finally, if you want to play for one of the three specific clubs, those being Glenferrie Lions, Burwood Warriors or St. Pauls, search on Facebook for any of those clubs and contact them directly on their page and they will go about getting you registered.

A huge thanks to Dan for such an insightful interview and I wish you all the best as you go about breathing some life back into the VBCA and many congratulations for all the hard work you do each and every week to ensure that blind cricket continues to thrive in Victoria for many years to come.

Noisy Balls is proudly sponsored by the Victorian Blind Cricket Association and we appreciate the VBCA's support as we bring in a new dawn in blind cricket podcasting.
 
To Get In Touch with Noisy Balls:

• Shoot us an email to feedback@noisyballs.com and we will always respond and read your messages up on an upcoming show.
• Why not be a part of the conversation on the Noisy Balls Facebook Group
• and you can always follow us on the Noisy Balls Twitter Feed, where we will regularly update you with the goings on in blind cricket locally, nationally and internationally.
• To find out more about my other podcasting endeavours, I invite you to check out the Blind Tech Guys.

Support the show (https://pod.fan/noisyballs)

On episode 12 of Noisy Balls, I had an inspiring chat with a legend of the English game, Geoff Smith.

Geoff played a massive role in the agreement for the BBS Primary Club Cup Final to be played at the Nursery Ground at Lords, an arrangement that ran from 1992 until 2008. Most of his playing career was for London Metro and for Sussex Sharks, he played a big part in starting the latter club.

Geoff won the National League title and the BBS Cup during his playing career, doing so on many occasions. Geoff was a talented wicketkeeper batsman and played many internationals for Blind Cricket England And Wales.

After Geoff was inducted into the blind cricket hall of fame, he stated “I have such wonderful recollections about my playing days. It’s right that I was as much involved off the field as on it. As WBCC General Secretary I wrote the Core Documents (governing rules and playing rules etc) for WBCC with some help from ICC (when they were still based at Lord's). I took over from Tony Hegarty who handed me a carrier bag with his collection of bits of paper when I was elected General Secretary in New Delhi in January 2002.

The best working period for me as an official was with Tim Guttridge and Peter Donovan when I was General Sec, they were both very good and very easy to work with. My best playing moment for England was helping to get us home for our first victory against Pakistan in 2002. When I went in we needed 26 off 19 balls, amazingly and despite my ever present nerves, I hit my first ball for four! This surprised everyone especially me. We beat them twice that year an they went on to be world champions at the Chennai World Cup.

I played for thirty years, my favourite colleagues and friends were Heindrich, David Samuels and John Garbett.”

Thanks to Geoff for such an insightful chat and I appreciate you taking the time to pop on to this episode of the show.

Noisy Balls is proudly sponsored by the Victorian Blind Cricket Association and we appreciate the VBCA's support as we bring in a new dawn in blind cricket podcasting.
 
To Get In Touch with Noisy Balls:

• Shoot us an email to feedback@noisyballs.com and we will always respond and read your messages up on an upcoming show.
• Why not be a part of the conversation on the Noisy Balls Facebook Group
• and you can always follow us on the Noisy Balls Twitter Feed, where we will regularly update you with the goings on in blind cricket locally, nationally and internationally.
• To find out more about my other podcasting endeavours, I invite you to check out the Blind Tech Guys.

Support the show (https://pod.fan/noisyballs)

On episode 11 of Noisy Balls, I had the extremely enjoyable opportunity of chatting with someone that is certainly much loved and well known locally, nationally and internationally. I am of course talking about the brilliant blind cricket umpire Michael Clemens.

Michael has an impressive resume to his name, with some of his qualifications including Bachelor of Business (RMIT), Diploma of Financial Planning (Deakin University), Diploma of Education (LaTrobe University), Graduate Diploma of Accounting and Finance (Monash University), Graduate Diploma of University Teaching and Learning (RMIT), and Masters of Accounting and Finance (VUT).

Michael's many current and past portfolios include being a member of CPA Australia, director of TrainEd Consulting Group Pty Ltd, a registered tax agent, authorised representative of Integrity Financial Planners Pty Ltd, life member of the Victorian Blind Cricket Association, life member of the Carrum/Bonbeach Cricket Club, Victorian Blind Cricket Association delegate to Blind Sports and Recreation Victoria, financial advisor to Blind Cricket Australia, financial advisor to Loch Sport Golf Club Inc., former director and treasurer to the Caroline Chisholm Pregnancy Support Agency, and former director and treasurer for the Airport Golf Club Inc. (formerly the Tullamarine Country Club).

Michael shared with us his history in blind cricket, his days as a cricketer himself, as well as discussing how things were many years ago when he became a father to Damian Clemens, an exceedingly accomplished blind cricketer in his own right.

Michael, I appreciate you coming on to this episode of Noisy Balls and for so graciously giving up some of your valuable time in order to enlighten our listeners with your pearls of wisdom and having you on the show definitely made for a very memorable episode.

Noisy Balls is proudly sponsored by the Victorian Blind Cricket Association and we appreciate the VBCA's support as we bring in a new dawn in blind cricket podcasting.
 
To Get In Touch with Noisy Balls:

• Shoot us an email to feedback@noisyballs.com and we will always respond and read your messages up on an upcoming show.
• Why not be a part of the conversation on the Noisy Balls Facebook Group
• and you can always follow us on the Noisy Balls Twitter Feed, where we will regularly update you with the goings on in blind cricket locally, nationally and internationally.
• To find out more about my other podcasting endeavours, I invite you to check out the Blind Tech Guys.

Support the show (https://pod.fan/noisyballs)