Cricket Helmets and Safety

When you are batting you want the best possible helmet to protect your head. To concentrate you need a cricket batting helmet that is comfortable and have good ventilation.

British Standards for Cricket Helmets?

Following a spate of incidents where the ball was getting between the grille of the helmet and the peak of the helmet, the British standards came out with new testing to ensure that cricket helmets were remedying this problem.

The British Standards Bureau tested all cricket helmets that were available on the market and released their findings with many helmets passing the tests and some not.

The English Cricket Board then adopted these standards as a rule for all professional cricketers. Since then, the ICC has followed suit and have also adopted the fact that all professional cricketers, men and women need to be wearing BS compliant helmet.

It goes without saying that any player should look for a batting helmet that meets these standards.

Neck Guards and Stem Guards

The protection of a batsman’s neck and the back of the batsman’s head has become an important aspect of helmet protection and Masuri responded by introducing a Stem Guard that can be fitted to the back of the Masuri Vision Series cricket helmets.

The stem guard is a very important piece of equipment and protects an area that is left vulnerable when a batsman sways for instance or plays a pull shot and gets a top edge with his/her head turned. It is well advised that all cricketers, including amateur and junior cricketers wear a helmet that has a stem guard.

With that said it is important to note that the Masuri Stem Guard is manufactured specifically for the Masuri Vision Series Helmet. When fitted to a different helmet, it will not offer the same protective quality, as it is simply not designed for other helmets. All other brands like Gray Nicolls have there own version of stem guard.

Neck Guards and Stem Guards on the right helmet are definitely something well worth considering and buying.

Helmet Features

As we have pointed out, the first thing you want to consider when buying a cricket batting helmet is how well it is going to protect your head. It is then also nice to keep in mind some of the comfort features that many of the modern cricket batting helmets.

Size is an important consideration of cricket helmet and it needs to fit properly in order to ensure that the best possible protection is being given. An ill-fitted helmet, whether the helmet is too big or the helmet is too small can be very dangerous. The helmet will not protect as well as it could or should if it does not fit properly.

Features like:

• Weight- Helmets need not be heavy. Many of the modern cricket helmets are very light. They still offer the protective qualities and having a light cricket helmet makes
• Ventilation- A good cricket helmet has ventilation pores so that the head of the batsman can get some air and breathe. Good side ventilation is also important. Shrey, Masuri Gary Nicolls and GM cricket helmets are all known for their excellent ventilation.
• Straps- Great cricket helmets come with high quality and very comfortable chin straps. The strap should be adjustable and either with a click fastening mechanism or Velcro strap but should be comfortable.
• Sweat Pads- There is no doubt that a lot of sweat is shed in the helmet. Many of the good helmets allow you to pull the sweat pads out and machine wash them. Having a clean inside of your helmet goes a long way to ensuring optimal comfort.

What do I do if my helmet is hit?

This is one of the most crucial questions that a cricketer should know the answer to. As a piece of head protective gear, it is recommended that if your helmet sustains a blow or sometimes even drops on a hard floor from a decent height, the helmet should be replaced. This is because any type of blow could compromise the structural integrity of the helmet. Compromised structural integrity means that if that same helmet is hit again, it may not do the job of protecting your helmet.