https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0

Cricket. Thought as by many as a peaceful recreational activity with no real risks, well in reality the sport comes with fatalistic dangers. Concussions, brain injuries and memory loss all linked to head injuries that occur during the game.

The severe impact that concussions can have on the brains of cricket players has been causing concerns on long term health and wellbeing for many years. The ICC (International Cricket Council) over the years has enforced more rules and regulations on players to wear more protective equipment when playing, due to the dangers of concussions and brain injuries. In 2014, The ICC enforced multiple different procedures in order to try and limit the amount of serious concussions within the sport. The major protocol that the ICC introduced was the Concussion Substitute rule in which a player can be replaced for a like for like substitute in order to encourage players to report the issues and not just “play on”.

In order to try and gain further insight into the reasons why people wear the protective equipment to avoid these concussions I spoke to Salford 2nd team batsman and wicketkeeper Reuben Gilbertson to find out more information.

It is clear from talking to someone who plays the game regularly that the risks and dangers of not wearing protective equipment clearly outweigh the positives. In some cases such as “when it is pace bowling and your stood back you can read the ball better” but in others such batting there is “no reason not to wear a helmet”

Cricket over the years has changed significantly, back when the sport was first created the batters never used to wear any protective equipment at all which resulted in a lot of nasty injuries for the players. The rules eventually evolved meaning batters had to wear pads, helmet, box etc to protect themselves. Fast forward to modern day cricket the sport has now become one of the most box office and high speed sports in the world, yet the downside to this is the amount of risk and dangers the players are exposed to.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Due to the high pace nature of the game in the modern day there is a much greater focus on player welfare. The umpires and coaches have a much greater responsibility in the duty of care towards the players and are always monitoring the bowlers and deeming whether it is dangerous or not. Another rule the ICC introduced is there is a maximum of 2 bouncers that a bowler can bowl in an over to limit the amount of concussions that do happen in the game. This comes after the tragic death of Phillip Hughes in 2014 during a Sheffield Shield game in Australia as he was hit on the back of the neck by a bouncer and later died after being in a coma for 2 days.

The ICC have implemented these rulings to allow for player safety to be at the forefront of their beliefs. We will see if anymore rulings follow after this summer in England and after the current IPL Season.