Cricket Australia leads push for bowler helmets

Cricket Australia has made moves to fast-track the development of a protective helmet for fast bowlers, with hopes a product could be ready for use as early as this year.

The issue of bowler safety was brought back into focus last month after a net bowler suffered a skull fracture when he was hit during an Australian World Cup training session in London.

There have been moves from within Cricket Australia for some time to develop a protective helmet for bowlers and the game’s governing body has been working closely with a sportswear manufacturer in recent months.

CA has been leading testing on a newly-designed, Australian-developed helmet for players in contact football codes, which is hoped can help protect cricketers as well. Testing has shown the helmet can reduce the likelihood of concussion by up to 55 per cent for football players.

Given the mechanics of a fast bowler’s run-up and bowling action, a tight-fitting helmet - similar to those used by footballers – would be far more practical for bowlers than a traditional batting helmet.

As was the case when batting helmets were first introduced in the 1970s, comfort and aesthetics are likely to be factors when bowlers decide whether or not they will wear them in games. Once a product has been approved, it’s hoped that - at the very least – players can be convinced to wear them at training to protect themselves during net sessions.

With modern batsmen hitting the ball harder than ever and the rise of T20 cricket encouraging aggressive stroke play, there have been several incidents in recent years where bowlers have been hit in the head in their follow-through.

Australian quick Joe Mennie suffered a fractured skull and minor brain bleeding after he was hit during a net session in early 2017, and he was struck in the head again during a match in England 18 months later.

Earlier this year, Australian spinner Fawad Ahmed suffered a fractured jaw and needed extensive dental work after he was hit in the mouth by a batsman’s straight drive.

While facial injuries like the ones suffered by Fawad are far from ideal, there are greater concerns over blows to the forehead and top of the head.

These concerns surround fast bowlers more than spinners, particularly those like Mennie who keep their head down in their follow-through, meaning they have less time to react when a ball is hit towards them.

In addition to leading the testing of a helmet in Australia, CA has also been in discussions with officials in England, who recently offered a cash prize and created a working group to develop a bespoke protective helmet.

In 2017, Kiwi fast bowler Warren Barnes made headlines when he bowled with a protective helmet during a domestic match in New Zealand. The right-arm quick modified a helmet normally used by field hockey players when defending penalty corners that protects both the head and face.

"The way I follow through once I deliver the ball, my head stays really low down and I don't actually see the ball until the batter has hit it," Barnes told the BBC at the time. "I had quite a lot of close calls in the nets and previous games being hit in the chest, but thankfully nothing in the face.”

In March, Fawad required surgery on his jaw, front teeth and lip after he was struck in the mouth during a match in the Pakistan Super League. Despite the seriousness of his injuries, the leg-spinner considers himself fortunate and acknowledges that getting hit near the top of his head would have been far more serious.

"I'm lucky it hit me on the mouth," he told cricket.com.au recently. "If that was my eye or my head, I would have been done in my career and maybe even my life.

"I'm still really grateful for that, I got lucky. You can replace teeth and the lip has healed."

Following the independent review into the tragic passing of Phillip Hughes in 2014, CA mandated the use of helmets for all elite-level batsmen against pace bowling, as well as for close-in fielders and wicketkeepers when standing up to the stumps. Helmets must also meet the British Standard to provide the highest level of protection.

In 2017, Australia also became the first country to introduce concussion substitutions to its elite domestic competitions, and CA has recently lobbied the International Cricket Council for this to be introduced at international level as well.