Through its partnership with Lions Cricket, Telkom is helping create more inclusive opportunities in sport, with blind cricket showing the transformative power of access, connection and community.

As the world marks World Sight Day on 8 October, attention turns to the importance of eye health and creating a world where access to eye care and opportunity is not limited by circumstance. But for athletes who live with visual impairment, sport is also proving to be a powerful space for confidence, connection and possibility.

For the DP World Lions blind cricket team, cricket is about far more than what happens on the pitch. It is a platform that helps players build confidence and independence, while challenging perceptions about what is possible when you live with a visual impairment.

At the heart of this journey is Isaac Bidla, coach of the DP World Lions blind team and President of DP World Lions Blind Cricket. For Bidla, the impact of blind cricket extends well beyond the scoreboard.

“Blind cricket gives players a sense of belonging and a strong belief in themselves. When you see what these youngsters can achieve on the field, you realise that vision should never define someone’s potential.”

Blind cricket is an adapted form of the game that enables blind and partially sighted athletes to compete through modified rules and specialised equipment, including an audible ball.

Players are classified according to their level of visual impairment, with classifications ranging from B1 (for players who are completely or almost completely blind), to B2 and B3 for athletes with varying degrees of residual vision. The classification system helps ensure that players with different levels of sight can compete fairly, while the game itself relies heavily on sound, spatial awareness and teamwork.

For the players, however, the value goes beyond the technicalities of the game. It speaks to a broader role that sport can play in building more inclusive communities.

“It is about changing the mindset,” says Bidla. “The players start to understand that there are things they can do that they may have thought were impossible. Cricket gives them a space to discover their strengths and to be recognised for their ability, rather than their disability.”

For Telkom, this is where the power of partnerships in sport extends beyond performance and competition. Through its partnership with Lions Cricket, Telkom has supported a broader cricket ecosystem that includes talent development, community participation and other cricket programmes.

“Sport has an incredible ability to connect people and create a sense of belonging,” says Gugu Mthembu, Chief Marketing Officer at Telkom. “For us, meaningful inclusion is about helping create opportunities where people can participate, connect and realise their potential.”

The story of blind cricket also challenges society to rethink how disability is viewed. Too often, conversations around visual impairment are framed around what people cannot see or cannot do. On the cricket field, the focus shifts towards what athletes can achieve – through skill, determination and teamwork.

And the achievements of the DP World Lions Blind Cricket team continue to reinforce that message. The team recently claimed the 2026 BCSA Premier Division title, underlining the competitive quality and determination within the side.

For Bidla, the hope is that these achievements inspire more people to look at blind cricket not as an alternative version of the game, but simply as another form of cricket with its own athletes, heroes and stories.

As World Sight Day puts the spotlight on the importance of accessible eye care and the value of vision, stories such as these offer another important perspective: inclusion is also about creating a world where people are not defined by what they cannot see, but empowered by what they can achieve.

Press Release