Test stars including Steve Smith, David Warner will have to wear neck guards on their helmets when batting under a rule change set to be imposed for the domestic season.
Batters who hit the roof at Marvel Stadium during the BBL will no longer be awarded an automatic six either, with the shift among 12 changes to playing conditions for the upcoming summer of cricket.
Smith, Warner and Usman Khawaja have baulked at using the extra protection on the back of batting helmets that was recommended for use following Phillip Hughes’ tragic death.
The new mandate comes after Cameron Green was concussed by a Kagiso Rabada bouncer in South Africa and will demand players in domestic cricket wear neck protectors when facing fast or medium-pace bowlers.
Cricket Australia has also gone a step further, requiring all Australian batters to wear them in international cricket both home and away.
It remains a CA rule that won’t be enforced by international umpires but could result in penalties for noncompliance under CA’s code of conduct.
The regulation does not apply to batters facing slow or spin bowling, along with wicketkeepers and close-in fielders.
Smith wore the neck guards briefly after being concussed by a short ball from Jofra Archer during the 2019 Ashes but not since, complaining they made him feel “claustrophobic”.
But CA head of cricket operations and scheduling Peter Roach said the time was right to make them mandatory after many years of research.
“Protecting the head and neck is extremely important in our sport,” Roach said.
“The neck protector product has come a long way in recent years and the decision to make them mandatory comes off the back of a lot of advice and consultation with a wide range of experts and stakeholders.
“We’ve certainly seen over a period of time players wearing them and becoming accustomed to wearing them.”
Among other changes for the upcoming summer, the Covid substitute has been removed, time limits will be imposed on injury assessments and treatment during a match and the use of spin bowlers instead of fast bowlers in bad light in Sheffield Shield matches will be scrapped.
But the biggest BBL change could possibly be the removal of an automatic six for hitting the Marvel Stadium roof in the Big Bash after it happened twice last season.
The new rule gives the umpires discretion to determine if the ball was going to clear the boundary. Batters will be awarded six runs if the umpire thinks the ball would have cleared the rope or a dead ball if not.
It’s the third time the rule has been changed since the competition’s inception in 2011 and Roach said the changes were about avoiding delays.
“We saw success last season tweaking the playing conditions to reduce the delays in play and will continue to look for improvements in this area,” Roach said.
“To my knowledge, the Big Bash is the only cricket competition in the world that has successfully reduced innings times in recent years. Some minor changes in the playing conditions along with some real buy-in from players and coaches has helped us achieve this.”
