Lumb offers backing to Visually Impaired team

England batsman Michael Lumb spent a training session with England's Visually Impaired Cricket team ahead of the first ever T20 World Cup in India.

Using special glasses, the limited-overs international got to experience what it is like to bat with varying degrees of visibility during net practice at Edgbaston.

Each player is graded as a B1, B2 or B3 depending on their level of vision with B1 players being totally blind. Not surprisingly, Lumb experienced most difficulty batting with the black-out glasses required to be worn by the B1 batsmen.

Lumb told ECB.co.uk: "It was really tricky batting with the full black-out. You just go on the sound of the ball but by the time you've heard it it's already on you so your reaction times are limited. It's an unbelievable skill - it blows my mind away.

"It's nice to come down and see the guys train and I wish them all the best for the World Cup."

Warwickshire's Luke Sugg will lead England in the tournament with each of the nine teams playing eight league matches ahead of semi-finals and then the final on December 13.

ECB Head of Disability Cricket Ian Martin said: "The T20 World Cup for visually impaired cricketers marks a huge step forwards in disability cricket. International Boards and disability sport charities around the world have united to make this competition possible. We thank the Cricket Association for the Blind in India for hosting this ground-breaking event and hope it is the first of many. All the players and support staff have worked extremely hard to prepare for this first ever T20 World Cup and I wish them all every success."

The England team departs for Bangalore on November 26 ahead of their opening match against Pakistan on December 2.