Never miss an update or event
Register for updates to get news and event notifications sent to your inbox. To learn how we store and use your data, go to our privacy policy.
Text to Speech
Toggle Font Size
As a kid, Ray didn’t imagine travelling the world to play cricket.
In primary school, he’d always liked to be involved in sports, including cricket. But, as he got older, and it became harder and harder for Ray to see the ball, he found himself excluded. With thick glasses and an obvious visual impairment, he felt like he stood apart from his peers.
His first experience of blind cricket was with Queensland Blind Cricket. He didn’t feel that he was good at any specific part of the game, but playing game him an opportunity to socialise with peers out of school, and be part of a team sport.
It gave him a chance to build friendships with people who were blind and had similar life experiences. He met his best mate, and they’ve spent many years playing cricket around the world together.
Blind cricket became a big part of how Ray though about himself, in his words, “my vision impairment hasn’t changed but how I approach challenges has.”
my vision impairment hasn’t changed but how I approach challenges has.
Ray has been on 17 of the 18 international tours that the Australian Blind Cricket team has embarked on. He did his first international test through New Zealand in 1996, and then toured India in 2002. He has since been back to India multiple times, as well as Sri Lanka, South Africa, Barbados, and England.
Today, Ray is Chair of Blind Cricket Australia and Secretary General of the World Blind Cricket Council.
Over time, he’s seen playing at representative levels become easier. The pathways are more developed, and the costs associated with playing are much lower. In most cases, state players don’t have to pay to travel to interstate competitions, and the Australian players don’t have to pay to travel on international tours.
Run through an MOU with Cricket Australia, Blind Cricket Australia is considered an important part of Australia’s cricket community.
While Ray only started playing blind cricket as a social endeavor, he has had an amazing sporting career.
As he said in a short documentary in 2016,
"It's the only time in my life where I feel like I'm entirely normal. No one's making a special exception for me. If I'm working or studying or playing other sports, I'm aware - whether it's done subtely or it's quite obvious - that people are making an exception for me or my vision impairment. When I go out and play blind cricket the whole game is modified and centred around people who are vision impaired. I can compete as a real equal against my peers."
- Ray Moxly