ICC needs to encourage cricket equipment manufacturers to produce safety equipment that are more efficient
ISLAMABAD: On November 10, Ahmad Shehzad probably thought himself to be the most unlucky of all cricketers when a bouncer from Corey Anderson not only deprived him of his maiden double century in Test cricket but the bouncer also knocked him out of the Test series when he seemed to be in the form of his life. But just a couple of weeks later, he was forced to change his mind when a similar delivery on a similar attempt to pull, hit Phillip Hughes and caused his death. Both these openers were hit by a cricket ball on either side of their foreheads, Shehzad on his right temple while Hughes was hit on his left.
The question is whether a helmet provides enough protection to batsmen. Cricket is technically a very advanced sport, but it seems that its safety criteria are lagging behind other sports in this modern era of scientific research and performance augmentation. Helmets used by cricketers are the least efficient among all other sports in which players require helmets. Cricket helmets are inadequate in terms of aerodynamics, safety and mobility of player. The International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to formulate rules for players’ safety while also considering the fact that the mobility and comfort of batsmen should be respected. A batsman, while wearing pads, arm guards, chest guards, thigh guards and helmets, is not completely free to play so the ICC needs to encourage its sponsors and cricket equipment manufacturers to come up with new designs, produce safety equipment that are more efficient, with greater capacity to absorb shocks, while being lighter and also covering a bigger area of the body.
Akram Piracha
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2014.
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