Collisions in Cricket are rare, yet hard to ignore

Ball games are fascinating to watch. Regardless of the sport, watching athletes hurl, strike, pass and run evokes a sense of excitement. Be it Cricket, Football, American Football or Rugby, the sheer power and brute force is on display as athletes wade through their opposition with gay abandon and come out unscathed.

Gravity defying dives and lunging bodies make for great sporting action and the onlooker can’t help but believe that they are watching invincible warriors. It’s only when heads clash, jaws break and blood flows that fans realize that athletes, as elite as they might be, are mere humans and susceptible to injuries like all else that walks.

Unlike some of the aforementioned sports, Cricket largely bears the tag of a “non-contact” sport with the possibility of an occasional painful contact restricted to any unintended meetings a cricketer might have with a leather ball weighing about 163g and moving at 150 km/h.

Also, in Cricket, the opposition isn’t necessarily trying to take you down in the pretext of snatching the ball away – a common sight in Football, American Football and Rugby. Agreed, the bowler does try to rattle the batsman with a bouncer, but that is best evaded should the batsman keep his eyes on the ball at all times. Should pace get the better of a batsman, the new-age cricket helmets offer added protection. But what about the outfielder on a Cricket ground; how safe is he?

The Rory Burns and Moises Henriques on-field collision is another stark reminder that, although “non-contact” a sport, Cricket can offer rather dangerous propositions for fielders to sustain freak injuries that could threaten careers, if not lives.

As concerns started to pour in from across the world cricketing fraternity, our minds raced back to the sickening collision in 1999 between Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie at a test match in Sri Lanka. While both made full recoveries, the same wasn’t the case with Ankit Keshri. The promising 20-year-old Indian cricketer succumbed to injuries sustained in a horrific on-field collision three days earlier during a senior Cricket Association of Bengal game.

Cricket and protective gear

Protective gear in Cricket has evolved with time. Sunil Gavaskar famously wore the iconic “skull cap” while the rest around him embraced the helmet. Subsequently, a grill screwed on the helmet protected the face and the jaw. While this helmet design stayed unchanged for years, pads and gloves underwent transformation. Additionally, arm guards and chest guards were introduced to the batsman’s protective armory.

After the Phil Hughes incident, batsmen are now increasingly adopting the “stem guard”. But what sort of protection do the fielders have? Barring the close in fielders, who wear pads and a helmet, you don’t witness fielders wearing protective headgear.

The reason is quite obvious. In a sport where the primary threat - as perceived - is from a fast moving ball, a less occurring possibility of an on-field collision or protection against one is just not viewed as priority. History has however proven, with facts abundant, that on-field collisions can prove to have rather serious consequences.

Preventive approaches

So just how would one deal with the possibility of an on-field collision. Needless to say, prevention is the ideal mantra and a two-fold approach could well minimize collisions or injuries resulting for them.

The proven approach: The fundamentals of fielding in Cricket dictate that one calls for the catch when faced with a “skier”. Yelling “mine” with arms spread wide in indication that you are the one taking the catch not just enhances your focus as a catcher, but also tells your charging teammate/s that you are in control. If done right, more often than not, your teammate is likely to step aside and let you have the cherry.

“Fielding 101” you might think but “calling” for a catch is seldom seen - even at the proverbial “highest level”. Videos of the Burns-Henriques collision clearly displayed both players scampering while ball-watching and being completely oblivious of each other’s charging presence. Had either of them called aloud to dissuade the other, we would have witnessed a dismissal instead of an abandoned game and two seriously hurt cricketers.

The experimental approach: Would out-fielders wearing helmets reduce the injury risk from a collision? We don’t quite know as no one has tried it just yet. Any fears of vision impairment when fielding with a helmet would be dispelled if one watches an NFL game.

The sight of a “wide receiver” or a “running back” sprinting down the field while looking back to collect a pass from a “quarter-back” is a common sight in the NFL. While the physical nature of the game mandates the use of a helmet, it certainly doesn’t obscure the vision of the player. Made from materials ranging from Polycarbonate to Carbon Kevlar, the NFL helmet weighs anywhere between 2.4 pounds to 4 pounds.

Yet, the players display incredible agility on the pitch. With a grill and chinstrap completing the NFL helmet (components in common with a Cricket helmet) players can charge the opposition knowing all too well that a head-on collision would not necessarily lead to a broken nose or jaw. Similarly, Lacrosse is another American full-contact sport that is played with a rubber ball weighing 140-147gms and has players wearing full body gear, helmet included.

Made of chrome and titanium, a Lacrosse helmet weighs 2.1 pounds on an average and offers vital protection as the players sprint across the field while receiving hard flung passes when attempting to score goals. Again, the players have full ground visibility and are able to sprint, dive and tackle with the helmet on at all times.

Agreed, one would argue that fielding with a helmet on in Cricket could impair the vision or fielding on the boundary line wearing a helmet for long hours in an ODI or a Test is quite simply not practical. Well, batsmen acclimatized to batting for long hours with a helmet on while spotting the ball approach at break-neck speed.

As did close-in fielders in those “silly” positions at mid-off and mid-on. If they could adopt and adapt, why not outfielders – while wearing modified light weight headgears similar to those worn by NFL or Lacross players? Through the 80’s and early 90’s, had someone suggested that wicket keepers ought to wear helmets for safety, they would have been laughed at while being lectured on the impracticalities. Yet, it is a common sign today.

While it remains to be seen if innovation in protective gear for Cricket would extend to fielders, there will be freak accidents that bring to light the constant need for safety and implementation of proven fundamentals to prevent or minimize the risk of injury from on-field collisions.

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