Cricket Helmet: Its features and materials

In spite of being first used in 1930, the cricket helmets were not broadly adopted till the late 1970s . With cricket balls travelling beyond 90 miles per hour at the top end of the game, the risk of head injury is too high.  It takes the cricket helmet an essential piece of equipment for cricket.

 Features of cricket helmet

Cricket helmets are normally made following a number of different features to customize different levels of safety, comfort and resilience. Like other protective elements of the equipments, the key of making cricket helmet is to offer maximum protection without colliding with the player’s natural techniques.

Covering

The shell offers maximum protection and shock absorption to the majority of a batsman’s head. The outer layer acts as an original shield widening the force of the impact over a greater exterior area to minimize the effects. The inner materials are then planned to take the force given by the outer shell.

Grid/Grill

The use of a grill in a cricket helmet, offers a bigger protection and at the same time reducing the impact on the wearer’s visibility. The use of a grill rather than a full face cricket helmet is seen as a necessary compromise. The cricket helmet grills are made of transparent poly-carbonates and composite materials. But the market seems to have fixed on the strength and stiffness offered by the metal.

Padding

The padding within cricket helmets serves as a third layer of shock absorption, that further minimizes the impact of a cricket ball. Besides,  the padding ensures a tight and comfortable fit to prevent  the helmet moving much in response to an impact. A protected, well-fitting helmet is a decisive factor in its performance.

Chin Strap

The chin strap ensures the helmet stays firmly in place. The strap works in conjunction with the padding in the cricket helmet to ensure an ideal fit.

A chin guard allows the chin strap to be comfortably secured against the chin. It also acts as a shock absorber in the event of an impact, particularly when the cricket helmet gets pulled off the head to protect the chin from the grill in high speed collisions where the grill is designed to warped  slightly in order to take up the shock.