Re: I'm an Oz cricketer, get me to a hospital!
Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 9:32 pmMaking_Splinters wrote:We saw a similar thing when shoulder pads were first coming into age group rugby. Lots of lads wound up getting injured because they'd go in for bigger hits thinking the pads would protect them, we banned them at age group at the club I coach and we saw the number of injuries going down.
It's not a direct analogy with helmets in cricket as there is no question that helmets do protect players, but does serve to highlight the change in mentality that protection brings. In cricket it is more a change in instinct, when your not wearing a helmet your first instinct to get out of the way of a short ball and make damn sure you keep your eyes on it. As helmets have become common place that instinct dulls and you see a lot more batsmen ducking out of the way turning their head away from the ball. This year we've seen Kieswetter have his eye socket fractured, Broad have his face rearranged and Shazad have his skull fractured. None anywhere near to the tragedy that has happened in Australia with Hughes but a distinct trend.
If you look back the players facing the likes of Thommo and the Windies, they rarely went for the hook unless the ball was in the perfect position. Modern players tend to try and play the short ball rather than rocking out of the way.
Just have to look at the guy in your avatar, no helmet, no arm guards, chest guards or thigh pads, just a thin pair of pads and some spiky rubber covered gloves and a copy of the sun in his trousers!