The Brightside Ground to host Blind Cricket Cup final
The Brightside Ground will host the final of the 2019 British Blind Sport (BBS) Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup on Saturday 31st August. It is the second time that Gloucestershire County Cricket Club’s home ground will stage the match after a successful event in 2011.
During 2019 the ground will host a One Day International between England and Pakistan, three ICC Men’s World Cup matches including, Afghanistan v Australia, Bangladesh v Sri Lanka and Pakistan v Sri Lanka. World Cup warm up matches will also take place with Afghanistan v Pakistan, South Africa v West Indies and West Indies v New Zealand.
Sussex Sharks are the two time defending BBS Cup holders and will start their defence away to Gloucestershire Growlers before potentially facing 16 time former winners London Metro in the semi-finals, if the Londoners can see off Yorkshire Vikings first. The other half of the draw is wide open with Northants Steelbacks hosting Cheshire Cobras in the quarter-finals with the winner to face Somerset VICC or Lancashire Lions in the other semi-final.
The BBS Primary Club Cup is the longest running annual disability cricket competition in the world, first held in 1979 this season will see the 41st edition of the competition.
British Blind Sport Vice Chairman and Cricket Competitions Secretary Dave Gavrilovic commented on the announcement:
“We are delighted that our final is returning to Bristol, the 2011 final was a terrific event and I’m sure that 2019 will more than equal it. It is a massive privilege for our teams to have the chance to play at such an excellent venue especially in such a busy year of cricket when Bristol is hosting so many international matches. I would like to extend our sincere thanks to the team at Gloucestershire CCC for agreeing to host the final and I look forward to working with them to deliver a fantastic experience for the two teams who reach this year’s final.”.
Peter Hall, Ground Operations Manager at Gloucestershire County Cricket Club added:
“We are pleased that the final will be taking place here at The Brightside Ground in August. It was an opportunity that we really wanted to be a part of again. We are looking forward to meeting the finalists and wish all the teams taking part the best of luck throughout the tournament.”