The prime world cricket governing body International Cricket Council (ICC), has introduced the new regulations regarding the helmets to make it compulsory for the batters and fielders to follow the guidelines of the standard cricketing gears both for men’s and women’s games at international circuit.
The ICC has stated that the regulations for the highest-standard safety gears will be enforced on batsman from February one in international cricket with new British Standard compliant.
“The new regulations, which have been incorporated in the ICC Clothing and Equipment Regulations effective 1 January 2017, do not make it compulsory to wear a helmet when batting, but when a batsman elects to wear a helmet it must be compliant with the new British Standard BS7928:2013,” ICC press release stated on January 15.
In 2014, after the death of Phillip Hughes, when a ball hit on his head at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), ICC had discussed on the best protective gears for the safety of players from time to time.
“Sanctions will be applied to batsmen who wear non-compliant helmets after 1 February. An official warning will be issued after each of the first two matches in which a non-compliant helmet is worn, and if there is a third breach of the regulations the player will be suspended for one match,” it added.
Geoff Allardice, who is the ICC’s General Manager, has stated that they want to see cricketers wear best of the cricketing gears made available to them – to avoid any untoward incident before being sanctioned.
“Our number one priority is to have all batsmen wearing the safest helmets available rather than to see players sanctioned. It has been pleasing to see that the vast majority of international players have been wearing compliant helmets since 1 January, but some teams have requested more time to assist them in implementing the new regulation before the sanctioning process commences,” Allardice remarked.
After the meeting in June 2016, the recommendations from the officials from different countries had pushed the cricket body to introduce regulations after further discussing the safety of the players on the ground.
“As such, the extension was granted to enable all teams and players to comply, and after this time the regulations will be strictly enforced,” Allardice concluded.