Oval world: Yusuf Osman enjoys his visits to Surrey County Cricket Club – and now has lots of ways to follow the game
HOOK’S SHOT: With a record 20,000 members, Surrey County Cricket Club needs to ensure they are all well looked after. MARCUS HOOK speaks to a visually impaired Norbury resident for whom the Pavilion has become almost a second home
Radio and online commentaries have made sports like cricket significantly more accessible to blind people. But just imagine how daunting it must be going to matches if you are visually impaired, especially if you don’t know the venue.
You arrive, crowds of people are moving in all directions, conversations overlap, loudspeakers announce information and there’s music blaring.
For those who cannot rely on sight, simply finding the right seat, or navigating stairs and corridors, requires careful planning.
Yusuf Osman, from Norbury, recently became a Surrey CCC member. For the first time in its history, the club now has more than 20,000 members. If Yusuf’s experiences are anything to go by, one of the reasons Surrey are bucking the national trend is the investment the authorities have made at The Oval in making the game more accessible to those with disabilities.
“I had been to a few Test matches – the Ashes in 2019, Sri Lanka in 2024 and India last year,” Osman said. “I love Test cricket, but I would never go on my own because of the enormous crowds, so I always went with someone.
“But last year a friend, who’s a Surrey member, asked: ‘Would you like to come to a Surrey game?’ So, I thought let’s see if I’d enjoy county cricket. And I did. I absolutely loved it.
“I love the fact you can listen to the cricket commentary on the ear-piece for 10 seconds, when each ball is being bowled, and then you can have a chat with your friend about the weather or what they’re having for lunch.
“There were about 5,000 people in the ground, so a decent crowd, but not ridiculously packed. I enjoyed it so much I decided to become a member, partly to see how supportive Surrey are.”
Osman works as an accessibility consultant. He even provides advice to Croydon Council. So he was keen to discover what arrangements Surrey have made.
Pitch invader: Yusuf Osman is waiting for the opportunity to inspect the hallowed 22 yards of The Oval wicket
“They ran a session for disabled supporters, to come in and speak about their experiences. I met Theresa Peters, who is their accessibility liaison officer. Theresa is absolutely brilliant – really caring and kind. If she can help you, she will.
“Separate to that, Croydon Council have a sensory impairment team. What they do is they come out and train blind people like me in terms of how to get from The Oval Tube station to the ground.
“In March, I started learning how to get around inside the ground – bits of the Pavilion, and how to get from the Hobbs Gate to the accessible areas.
“So, come the first day of the season, I went with my mobility officer, just to do a bit more learning. He had to go at lunch time, but then members of Surrey’s stewarding team took over, which was fantastic.
“By the third day, I was able to get to the ground on my own. The staff there help me find my seat – at ground level in front of the Pavilion, but over to one side so I don’t disturb who’s batting.
“What I’ve found is the moment I get up to do something, a member of the stewarding staff will come over to check I’m okay, plus the members there are very generous in terms of offering me help.
“I’ve got to know some of the stewards by name – Mark, who is the head steward, Simon, Zainab, Jas, Nabeel and Henry, who is also an opera singer.
“During the lunch break you’re allowed to go on to the outfield, so I’ve done that. I’ve even walked all the way around the boundary rope, so now I have an idea of how big The Oval is.
“My greatest desire is to actually walk on the wicket, to see what the 22 yards are like, to stand where the batter stands and where the bowler actually delivers the ball. Mark is currently arranging with Lee Fortis, the head groundsman, for me to go on to the wicket after a match has finished.”
Osman has followed cricket for more than 30 years: “I’ve been a cricket fan since about 1994, when I came across Test Match Special. As a blind teenager in the 1990s, there wasn’t much other than being able to listen to various radio stations.
“At that time, other than Test matches and one-day internationals, you got a bit of county coverage in terms of the Sunday league, but I could never pick up coverage of Surrey.
“I didn’t really catch on to the BBC’s county coverage until two years ago, when I came across their sport app on my phone. They had just started making the ball-by-ball commentaries available through the Amazon Echo device, which allows you to go: ‘Play Surrey versus Lancashire’ and it will start playing it.
Bowled over: Australian-born Dan Worrall has played a bit part in Surrey’s Championship dominance
“I love the complexity of the game, along with the history and all the records that have been set.
“In four- and five-day cricket you have to change the way you play according to the conditions and the match situation. If you’re a batter you’ve got to have the ability to dig in as well as the ability to score quickly.
“To be honest, I find Twenty20 too noisy, and don’t even get me started on The Hundred.
“For me, The Hundred isn’t even cricket!”
Osman’s knowledge of the game has also grown thanks to the written word becoming more accessible.
“The Cricketer magazine really has done a lot,” he says. “I’d been wanting to read it for years.
“The Royal National Institute of Blind People have a newspapers and magazines service, but magazines like The Cricketer were only ever available as what are called ‘recorded highlights’, where a volunteer would read it out loud, and you could download the MP3 file.
“But now you can read the entire magazine using an app on your phone. So, now I can read the thoughts of George Dobell, Vic Marks and Mike Selvey.
“I don’t know how they do it, but on their website, The Cricketer also publishes tons of articles every day, such that I can’t keep up with it.”
Osman’s favourite Surrey player is seamer Dan Worrall, who has been instrumental in the club’s recent domination of the County Championship: “We did miss him at the beginning of the season, when he was injured.”
But Osman is really excited about the future for 19-year-old Adam Thomas, who hit a century on Championship debut in the win over Sussex: “To come out and score a hundred on your debut, with all the pressure he must have been under, he just looked so relaxed.”
And Osman says: “Now The Oval feels like my second home. I just love going there.”
Recent cricket columns from Marcus Hook:
- Sorry Surrey look in need of a Blast of new energy at The Oval
- What the Foakes! Surrey keeper ruled out after bowling injury
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