To serve and protect

Helping players stay a head of the game, one helmet at a time

Deepti Unni | July 11, 2022

Solicitor Bruce Miles displays his prototype cricket helmet in the 1950s © Getty Images

When was the first cricket helmet invented? It's a matter of some debate. Patsy Hendren wore a modified three-peaked cap in 1933 at Lord's in an MCC vs West Indies tour game. Dennis Amiss used a modified motorcycle helmet during World Series Cricket in 1977. Graham Yallop was the first to wear one in a Test, against the West Indies in Australia in 1978, and Mike Brearley wore his own design. What did they all have in common? They were all roundly booed by the public.

But the first purpose-built cricket helmet apparently goes back earlier. Bruce Miles, a New South Wales solicitor better known for his work with the Aboriginal Legal Service, was a keen cricket and rugby fan. Miles surmised that a helmet would make batters less afraid to face fast bowlers to the advantage of the game. He set about designing one, and when Australia travelled to the West Indies in 1955, he airmailed a collection of them to the team at personal expense. The helmets were received, but never worn.

Ian Davis shows off the kit he planned to wear for the WSC, including a helmet, and home-made chest, thigh and forearm padding © Getty Images

But by the late 1970s, the importance of a helmet was increasingly being felt by batters. After David Hookes had his jaw broken by an Andy Roberts bouncer in the 1977 "Supertest", Kerry Packer ordered helmets made for the batters in World Series Cricket, even while the likes of Amiss and Ian Davis, in the picture above, had their own protective gear manufactured.

Those who had no access to helmets yet, improvised, like Mohinder Amarnath in the photo below, who swapped his cap for a polo pith helmet.

It's a jungle out there: Amarnath just remembered an important safari appointment Adrian Murrell / © Allsport/Getty Images

Then there are the off-book uses of helmets: it isn't just bouncers they're useful for fending off.

Rahul Dravid puts his helmet in the way of an unsolicited kiss from a fan Dibyangshu Sarkar / © AFP/Getty Images

Fans should be wearing helmets too. Those close to the action are always in danger of being beaned by a wayward six, and it's important to stay protected. Plus, it's great for holding snacks, and making a pot of soup during rain breaks.

Don't call me a crock-pot: this helmet panned out okay © AFP/Getty Images

We've heard of dunce caps, but humiliation hats? Could this be the next innovation in league cricket?

Duck hunt: A player in the Goldfield Ashes, a cricket carnival in Queenland, wears a punishment helmet for going scoreless Ian Hitchcock / © Getty Images

Has anyone worn a helmet better than Andrew Symonds, the real Maverick?

Tom Cruise who? Symonds wears an RAAF flight helmet for a ride in a Hawk 127 fighter jet Paul Kane / © Getty Images

Spidercam? Hawkeye? Pshaw. Hamish Kingston is his own decision review system in the BBL.

When being a 360-degree player is not enough Will Russell / © Cricket Australia/Getty Images

During Sri Lanka's tour of South Africa in 2017, bees launched a protest and stopped play during the third ODI by swarming on Quinton de Kock's wicketkeeper's helmet. Their demand: rename the game after a more important and endangered species of insect.

When you're sore from standing around in the slips all day, a helmet offers a welcome spot of repose.

Jimmy Adams contemplates life while weight testing a fielding helmet

Headgear also provides the odd moment of comedy. On New Zealand's tour of Sri Lanka, during the first Test, Trent Boult got a ball stuck in the grille of his helmet, and the Sri Lanka players had a bit of a chase before they could get it back.

Boult reckons if he runs around with the ball in his helmet long enough he could hold out for a draw Buddhika Weerasinghe / © Getty Images

The next step in helmet evolution? Strap a bat on it and introduce headers in cricket - more runs, more catches, fewer concussions.

Bat on a hat: can't get hit on the head if your head hits back

Deepti Unni is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

To serve and protect

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