Lee and McGrath lend a hand

Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath have seen cricket in a whole new light – by playing in total darkness.

The former Australia stars tried their hand at blind cricket, batting and bowling while wearing blackout glasses under the direction of Australian blind players for a PlayCricket Week event.

The Australian legends were taught how to play blind by Australian blind cricket players including fast bowler Ray Moxly in a promotional event at the SCG.

And Brett Lee, so often the deliver of devestating yorkers, was on the receiving end, tweeting a picture (below) of a blackened toenail after being on the receiving end of a toe crusher.

Australia developed the game of blind cricket, a sport which is now played throughout the world. It had its beginnings in 1922 in Melbourne where two residents at a hostel put rocks in a tin can and began to play a version of what is played today.

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In 1928 in Sydney, the first interstate game of took place between NSW and Victoria. Later the same year, a NSW team travelled to Melbourne to continue the challenge.

In January 1953, the Australian Blind Cricket Council (now Blind Cricket Australia) was formed in conjunction with the inaugural Australian blind cricket championships which were held at Kooyong in Melbourne.

The championships are now held bi-annually and about 200 blind cricketers are spread across the country.

The fourth 40/40 Blind Cricket World Cup will be held in Cape Town starting late November.

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Blind cricket is played in essentially the same way as the conventional game, however an 'audible ball' that rattles and rings when in motion is used. The ball is of similar size and weight to a conventional cricket ball.

A side is made up of different categories of blind players: four are totally blind players, three are partially-blind and four are partially-sighted.

Each sight category has a 12th man, so a team has 14 players in total: 11 players and three 12th men.

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All bowling is underarm and the ball must bounce at least twice before reaching the batter. Before delivering the ball, totally blind bowlers receive directions from the wicketkeeper to find the correct line to bowl.

The totally blind category bowler must bowl a minimum of 40 per cent of the overs in an innings.

Totally blind players have a runner when batting and are credited with two runs for every run scored off the bat.