Zimbabwe-born Dean du Plessis, 32, is probably the most hard-working man in the cricket world. He doesn't bat or bowl, but vividly describes sporting action he has never seen. Du Plessis is one of a kind: A blind cricket commentator bringing the game to life on your radio and TV. Hearing him, you wouldn't know he has two glass eyes, was born with tumours in both his retinas. His description of strokes and deliveries is faultless. A report in The Times, London says Du Plessis has an accentuated sense of hearing which makes up for his lack of vision. He has reportedly shared the commentary box with the likes of Ravi Shastri, Geoffrey Boycott, Tony Cozier and the one-eyed Bruce Yardley and in 2004, he and Yardley became the first commentary team to deliver with just one eye between them! "Wired up to the stump microphones, (du Plessis) can tell who is bowling from the footfalls and grunts, a medium or fast delivery by the length of time between the bowler's foot coming down and the impact of the ball on the pitch. He picks up a yorker from the sound of the bat ramming down on the ball, can tell if a ball is on the off or on-side, and when it has hit pad rather than bat," says the report.
He has done the job since 2001 and has sat in the commentary box for all Test-playing nations' matches. Du Plessis is a regular at the Twenty20s as well. Incidentally, du Plessis hated the 'blind cricket' he was taught as a child. Intuition helps du Plessis Zimbabwe's Dean du Plessis, who is the only blind cricket commentator to have covered Tests, ODIs and even Twenty20 games, is one of a kind. Wired to the stump camera, his keen sense of hearing and cricketing intelligence enables him to decipher the on-field action. During a recent Bangladesh-Zimbabwe game, he heard that the Bangladesh captain had sent a batsman down to fine leg after Zimbabwe batsman Charles Coventry had smashed a four. "A sixth sense told me it was a double bluff," Dean told the Times, "He wanted to give the impression that the next ball would be a bumper, to make Coventry use a hook shot." Naturally, the next Bangladeshi delivery was a yorker! "The thing about Dean is the intuition," former Zimbabwe batsman Andy Pycroft told the Times, "The public love to listen to him. If he has the right person at anchor to support him, he is brilliant."
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