ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes the scope of this book and explains why critical scholarship is so vital in the rapidly evolving world of elite disability sport. By providing a mix of personal experiences and academic commentary, this chapter introduces the audience to visually impaired cricket and demonstrates how this sporting subculture can be used to help us understand contemporary disability sport and physical activity. To add additional context, this chapter provides a historical overview of visually impaired cricket and explains how the game is organised across the globe, including a brief explanation of the rules. Focus then turns to the fieldwork at the heart of this monograph. After briefly setting the methodological scene, this chapter discusses issues of standpoint, voice and being a non-disabled researcher with disabled participants. The two phases of this book’s ethnography – (1) participant observation and (2) semi-structured – are then outlined with a particular focus on enhancing the audience’s knowledge of this sport and its participants.
