The success of the Blind England Cricket Team more than matches the achievements of the regular team says one local resident and team member. RICHARD LYONS reports

In summer 2005, Andrew Freddie' Flintoff and chums were the toast of the nation after beating Australia in the Ashes test series for the first time in 18 years.

Little did everyone know however, another England cricket team had beaten the Aussies three tests to two when they came to the UK one year earlier.

Rather than being given MBEs and shown around Downing Street, the Blind England Cricket Team quietly went back to their day jobs before preparing for their next overseas tour.

Despite this gulf in glamour, the difference between the two teams has not registered with one blind cricket team member, Bryn Reynolds from Worcester Park.

For him, the England Blind Cricket team has much in common with its more famous counterpart - namely a fierce competitive spirit and a robust approach to their social life.

"We practise very hard and we'll go and give it 100 per cent and if we've got a few rest days we'll go out and party," Mr Reynolds, 35, of Caverleigh Way said.

"I'm very up and active and doing things, and so are all of the 17 guys who are part of our squad. There's none of that I'm not sure we can do this'. We go out and we do it - we'll have a go at anything.

"We are just like any other side except we have got a visual-impairment."

Mr Reynolds, who has been visually-impaired since birth, was a paralympian and competed at the Barcelona 1992 Paralympics before becoming involved in blind cricket.

In the domestic game he plays for a London-based club called Metro, which follows the UK's blind cricket rules and uses a football sized ball.

For the England team he has served as both opening batsman and bowler and must adhere to the different set of rules used in the international game.

Instead of the bigger ball, a white ball containing a rattle - which is the same size as a normal cricket ball - is bowled underarm at the batsman.

The ball must also bounce twice before reaching the crease - once in the half of the wicket nearest the bowler and once more before being struck.

Having to play this different game against international teams in test series and world cups, perhaps places them at a disadvantage compared to other teams.

But mastering two forms of the game has not held them back and they finished a respectable third in last year's world cup in Pakistan.

"We are getting better and better. We started off pretty badly but we have raised our game a bit and now we are pretty well up there," Mr Reynolds said.

"I've been involved nine or 10 years and I've been on some great tours and met some great people. It's a great bunch of guys. We train at weekends once a month and we work really, really hard.

"Looking back, I have had great satisfaction and got some great memories out of it."

Next month Freddie Flintoff will be back in action when England compete in the world cup as one of the favourites to win the competition.

The England Blind Cricket Team too is preparing for its next encounter which will be against India when the team visits the UK this summer.

The following year they go to Australia in an attempt to beat the Aussies in a series for the second time in a row - something the regular England team failed to do.

For all England cricketers, the Australian tour is the big one, but whoever the opposition, one thing, it seems, is certain.

In terms of camararderie, competitiveness and sheer enjoyment of the sport, the disability of the Blind England Cricket Team will not hold them back.

"There's certainly some guys who have got a hell of a lot out of the sport and there's probably some guys in the team who have really benefited from it," Mr Reynolds said.

"It's great for confidence, it's a great social sport. There's a big team ethic, everyone really encourages everyone else. We don't necessarily see ourselves as blind cricketers, we are cricketers with a disability and we just get on with it."