Five cricketers with abnormal colour vision

Five cricketers with abnormal colour vision, all of whom had mild deuteranomaly, reported occasions when they had lost sight of the ball when the background was the green grass of the playing field or the green of grassy banks or trees surrounding the playing field. While these five cricketers demonstrate that mild deuteranomaly does not preclude playing cricket successfully at a competitive level, their responses to questions at interview suggest that those with more severe forms of abnormal colour vision may be at a disadvantage. This conclusion is consistent with the under-representation of abnormal colour vision in a sample of first class county cricketers in England reported by Goddard and Coull (BMJ 1994; 309 1684-1685).