COLOR-BLIND CRICKETERS AND SNOWBALLS

Objective-To determine whether colour blindness affects batting in pro fessional cricketers. Design-Comparison of batting averages of colour blind cricketers and those with normal vision. Setting-Players on 18 f irst class county cricket teams. Subjects-280 of 306 players were test ed. Main outcome measures-Results of Isihara colour blindness tests. R esults-Batting average for the colour blind group (12 players) was sli ghtly lower than for players with normal vision (20.88 v 26.31). There was no difference in the number of batsmen and bowlers affected. Batt ing averages before and after the introduction of the white ball into Sunday League cricket did not differ significantly. Conclusions-That b atting performance is not significantly impaired by colour blindness s uggests that to some extent these players are self selected. Routine t esting of cricketers for colour blindness is not recommended.