Special glasses help colour blind cricketer, 11, see ball

A colour blind cricketer hopes he will be hitting sixes - after being given help to overcome his condition.

Charlie, 11, has deutan colour vision deficiency, which means he struggles to differentiate the red cricket ball from the green grass.

His coach Gareth Roberts wanted to help the youngster continue playing and arranged for him to be given a special pair of glasses.

Charlie, from Wrexham, said they have made a "big difference".

The Brymbo Cricket Club player added: "I couldn't really see the ball against the grass. It's just when colours merge into one, so I couldn't distinguish it."

Since the glasses arrived about a fortnight ago Charlie said they have helped him see "clearer and easier".

He explained: "You could see more of the ball and not just the seam of it, so when it's rolling along the grass it's clearer and easier to see, without it, I'd just be judging by the seam of the ball."

Until recently Charlie played cricket with a yellow ball, which he did not have such an issue seeing.

But at under-13s level, this was swapped for a traditional hard red ball, and it caused him problems.

When the club became aware of the issue, Mr Roberts and his staff began looking for a way to help him.

He explained: "Imagine seeing in sepia, that's what he sees.

"He really wanted to play and I wanted to do something that would enable him to be able to play the game the same as anyone else could."

The club's search ended when they found Enchroma - a firm which makes glasses that can help the majority of people with colour blindness.

They carried out tests on Charlie and sent him a pair of lenses.

While the glasses cannot restore complete colour vision, they do help the wearer to differentiate tones.

Charlie's parents Darren and Joanne said the glasses have enabled him to watch the tennis - something he previously found impossible to follow.

Joanne said "for the last 11 years it's been sepia and now it's just a world of bright colour which is amazing".