Stick Your Lid On

One of the last bastions of helmetless cricket in Tasmania has joined the safer side of the sport by decreeing batters must wear helmets in the upcoming season.

The Mersey Valley Cricket Association (MVCA) that operates around Devonport in Tasmania’s north west have changed its playing conditions to align with other competitions in the state.

Up until last season, helmets were optional for batters in the MVCA but at the recent annual general meeting it voted to include the following in its by-laws.

“It is compulsory that all players wear a helmet compliant with British Standard 7928:2013 when batting against fast or medium-paced bowling. The umpires are the sole judge of whether bowling is fast or medium-paced and will judge the pace of the bowling against what is considered “fast”, “medium-paced” or “slow” within the context of that particular match.”

The change will add to the workload of umpires who now must determine who is fast, medium-paced or slow in the context of the game they are standing in but it is hoped the application of cricket’s “43^rd Law – the Law of common sense” will be applied by players.

Also, of concern in the making of this decision to mandate helmets was a view that some more senior players would stop playing if forced to wear a helmet.

MVCA President Ian Davies does not believe that this change will negatively impact participation.

“I hope there isn’t,” Davies said.

“Obviously it will have an impact on some of the more senior players who have been around a long time but my personal opinion is if you are passionate about the game and you want to keep playing, you have to move forward.

“So far, we haven’t had much negative feedback.

“It’s all been pretty positive.”

“The two main reasons (for the change) are we want to follow national guidelines.

“The Cricket Australia national guidelines are it is compulsory for batsmen to wear helmets.

“The other one is our number one concern is player safety.”

Davies also said umpires will adopt the policy of helmets to be worn at all time unless bowlers are classified as slow.

“There has been a little talk around that,” Davies said.

“We’ve spoken to some umpires already and we hope common sense will come into play.

“Most will know what’s classified as a slow bowler.

“The umpire on the day will make the decision as to what he thinks is classified as slow, medium or fast.

“And, if in doubt, wear a helmet.

“We need to err on that side.”

Editor’s note:

From my point of view, I have batted without a helmet a lot and will need to adapt to wearing a lid. But as one former Cricket Tasmania staff member once said, “people complained about when seatbelts were made mandatory and now nobody bats an eyelid about wearing one.”