15 Things Cricketers Wear When They Play Cricket
Next to soccer, cricket is a sport played globally. Right from the jersey and caps to wearing protective gear, helmets, and shoes. Everything has a particular pattern, design, colour, and fabric that the players need to maintain.
Cricket ball is made up of leather weighted around 159–163 grams which can hurt the human body and cause severe damage, especially when it swings towards the batsmen at 80–100 mph. Therefore every cricket player must wear protective gear while playing. The protective gear helps the player to perform well and prevents them from getting a severe injury.
Let’s look at the 15 things that cricketers wear on the field:
1. Jersey
Cricket clothing is different from any other sport. Different gameplay has a different set of clothes. During the Test matches, the cricket jersey combination is white. The primary reason for wearing whites is that the players are on the ground under the sun for maximum hours; therefore, the white clothing helps them stay cool throughout the gameplay. The white cricket uniform is often known as flannel.
In the other matches where the players represent their countries — ODIs and World Cup or the teams during IPL season, they need to wear the coloured jersey decided by the country’s cricket board or BCCI. This is because the jersey colours represent their country or team. For instance, Blue Jersey is for Team India, Yellow Jersey is for Team Australia, etc.
The fabric of the jersey is made up of breathable materials which promote maximum airflow throughout the body. A mixture of cotton, polyester, and spandex fabric is usually for summer to keep the body cool and wool for winter to keep the body warm.
2. Long Trousers
The primary purpose of wearing long trousers during the gameplay is because the players need to put the pads around the thigh and legs with the straps attached to them. The long trouser helps to cause any sort of discomfort while wearing the additional equipment. The trousers are generally a little loose in fit to allow the player to move flexibly and comfortably.
The trousers are typically designed using premium quality material that has a soft texture to ensure the friction of the trouser and the skin shouldn’t cause the player any kind of discomfort. The fabric is highly breathable, has torn resistance with an excellent finish.
3. Arm Guard Sleeves
Armguard sleeves are one of the common things most sports players wear, including cricketers. It is one of the common factors while playing; the player tends to get hurt. The armguard sleeves help in compression while playing, keep the muscles relaxed, and regulate blood flow. It also helps to prevent soreness and reduce the chances of getting a severe injury.
The armguard sleeves also help the player maintain hands flexibility during batting, bowling, catching or throwing the ball, and wicket keeping. In addition, it prevents sudden cramps because of strain.
As the elbow and forearms skin could get sunburn rash and hamper the performance on the field, the armguard sleeves also protect from the dangerous UV rays and keep the skin cool.
It is important to pick the right armguard sleeves. The sleeves should not be too tight as it could be challenging to move the arm, the fabric material should offer UPF 50+, and elastic grip sleeves that should stay in place while playing.
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4. Elbow Guard
As elbow bone is one of the sensitive parts that could get easily damaged when the leather ball hits hard, in addition to the armguard sleeve, the elbow guard pad usually wore by batsmen during the matches for elbow protection. The pad is made of solid material, and it looks a little bulkier and weighted around 100–130 grams. It has an elastic loop and straps to adjust according to the elbow size and move the hand flexibly during the game.
The elbow guard pad is made up of shock-resistant material and a soft cotton towel attached to the inside of the pad to ensure high sweat absorption and keep the elbow cool during the game. Depending on the batsman’s preference, it can be worn along with the armguard sleeves or only an elbow guard pad.
5. Chest Guard
The batsman must be more exposed to incoming bowls, which could be dangerous. The chest guard shields the batman’s chest and kidney area to prevent a sharp injury during the game.
Chest guard wore on the right side by a righthand batsman and left side for the left-handed batsman. The fabric used in the making of chest guard is the premium-high quality of cotton ensure high protection, durability, flexibility, and quick sweat absorption.
The chest guard is also designed for women cricketers to protect them from ball direct hit injuries. The women’s chest guards are worn under the clothing; thus, it is unnoticeable. The material is characteristically designed to prevent the pain from the excessive movement of the breast during the gameplay and reduce the impact of the ball strike.
6. Thigh Guard
A thigh guard is a lightweight pad that batsmen wear to protect the thigh area against the incoming balls, which generally rushes at a speedy pace that can hurt the thigh area. There are two straps that go on the waist and the other near the inner thigh, a tight grip that guards the area.
The pad is made up of high-quality premium fabric and foam, which is tear-proof, lightweight, durable, long resistant, and ensures high grip velcro tape that stays fit even when hit by a ball or while playing or running during gameplay. The thigh guard fits to give maximum protection to players.
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7. Box
The Player’s private part is one of the most sensitive parts to get hurt by the ball, which is why the batsman must wear the box. The box is worn not only by batsmen but also by fielders and wicketkeepers as there is a high chance the ball may hurt them as well.
The box comes in different shapes and sizes with high material grades, and ventilation holes ensure the skin around the area is breathable. It is designed to wear internally. The male box is slightly bulky according to the shape of their pelvic area, and the female box pad is somewhat more cushioned.
8. Leg Pads
The knees and ankles are the other vulnerable body part in which the extreme force of the ball can hurt and cause damage. Therefore, cricket pads are mandatory for all batsmen to wear while playing.
Traditionally, the pads are made up of leather, cotton, and wooden cane sticks in old times. The visible exterior side of the pad is leather, and the inside has cotton material to make it extra soft. The cane sticks are visible.
The modern pads are made up of HDF (high-density foam), making the pads lightweight, an extra protection layer, soft from inside, and rugged outside. The modern pads maintain the size and shape of the traditional pads but with a better high grip and protection. In addition, the pads generally come in three high-grade velcros big straps to ensure the grip while playing.
9. Batsman Gloves
Every player must wear gloves as the closest element for the ball after the bat is the fingers, and with a slight bounce, the finger can get hurt. The batsman gloves are hard outside to protect the hands against ball injury and soft padded inside to ensure the fingers can move flexibly while playing.
Splits finger gloves are often worn by the batsman who generally uses their wrist while batting and also worn by the spinners as they need to move the ball using their wrist.
Most batsmen wore the sausages gloves to provide an extra layer for their fingers to tackle the bouncy ball.
Both the gloves — split fingers and sausages are made up of high-grade leather on the outside with ventilated holes to allow air circulation, synthetic fabric on the backside, and cotton-padded foam for the fingers. Apart from the wrist protection, the gloves provide comfort, prevent the wrist from the blister, and advance grip with shock resistance while hitting the ball.
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10. Wicket Keeper Gloves
Like battling gloves, wicketkeeper gloves are also made up of leather material on the outside. The inside gloves have high-grade cotton material with an extra protection layer added to protect the hands from the high force of the ball while catching. The inners of the wicketkeeper gloves are sweat absorbent; thus, it allows them to wear the gloves for a long time without feeling rash, sweaty or slippery.
The wicketkeeper glovers are slightly more rigid than the batsman gloves as the wicketkeeper needs to handle the extreme force ball, thus extra protection.
11. Cap
Cap is one of the essential clothing equipment for cricketers. Wearing a cap in a day match helps the player from sunlight, and while at night, the cap helps them protect from big helium lights at the field, which could cause temporary blindness while playing.
The players who made their debut in International cricket often get their first cap, and the cap has numbers on it as per the players that represent the country before. In addition to debut cap, the players also earned the caps when they achieved milestones such as the 50th test or 100th.
12. Sunglasses
The players are on the ground for almost more than 6 hours and play under the sun. Eyes are the most vulnerable body part after skin when it comes to contact with sunlight. Sports sunglasses offer the highest protection against harmful UV rays and protect the player from eye injury during gameplay.
Some sports sunglasses models help magnify red color against green color, which assists the player in picking the ball. Only high-grade sports shades are advisable for players to wear on the field as it has the highest UV protection, which helps prevent eye damage.
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13. Helmet
The primary purpose of a cricket helmet is to prevent head and face injury during gameplay. The human skull injury can almost result in disastrous. The batsman and the wicketkeeper wear the helmet as they are the ones who are more exposed to the ball.
The helmet is made up of the excellent material of premium steel, titanium, and fibreglass that is shockproof and prevents the ball hit the head. The helmet design comes with a chin strap and can be adjusted as needed. In addition, the faceguard design has an optimum space between the face and the faceguard grill attached to the helmet, preventing the ball from passing through.
Though it wasn’t mandatory before 2017 to wear a helmet during gameplay, however, in January 2017, the International Cricket Council (ICC) signed a new regulation-making wearing helmets compulsory.
14. Shoes
Cricket shoes are different from regular sports shoes; however, they look similar when anyone sees them. Cricket shoes are designed especially for the game, which is more robust with increased grip proving extra support for the players during gameplay.
On the base of the gameplay surface, the spike shoes are often worn while the players are playing outdoors on a natural grass pitch. This is because the spikes are designed specially on the bottom of the shoes, and it helps the player to maintain their feet balance while playing on grass.
The shoes with the high-quality rubber design are worn by players who play on other surfaces such as wooden, artificial grass, or dry land ground. This kind of shoe is often worn by players who are practising the game.
15. GPS Vest
In addition to cricket uniform and protective gears, the GPS enable vest is introduced for the players to track their speed, the directional player changes while playing, measuring the player heart rate and fatigue level. The data is transferred to the central database, and the analyst keeps tracking the metrics, compares the data, tracks the player’s progress, and watches any signs of possible injury.
Conclusion:
As much as it is essential to have a wood quality of bats and cricket balls, it is also crucial for the players to wear the fitting gear and play the game comfortably. Without the right gear, cricket can proved to be a dangerous game.
Main Image Source: Pixabay
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