Cricketers don't need safer gear, parents told

Hawke's Bay cricketers are safe when they're on the pitch, Hawke's Bay Cricket Association has assured players and parents.

Association chief executive Craig Findlay said there was no need for further safety measures following Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes' death, as cricket was a "safe-ish" sport and Hawke's Bay players already used lots of safety equipment.

Test batsman Hughes died last week after being struck in the neck by a short pitched ball during a New South Wales-South Australia Sheffield Shield match.

Hughes was wearing protective gear, including a helmet when he was struck, which prompted an international discussion about the need to further improve player safety.

"Hughes' death was a freak accident," Mr Findlay said. "[The association] will keep promoting safety and cricket will keep on going."

Wearing helmets was recommended but not compulsory in Hawke's Bay, he said.

"Teams have to make them available but we won't be making them compulsory as there's a massive cost involved that would hinder a lot of people from playing."

ACC figures show more than 900 claims were made for cricket injuries in Hawke's Bay from 2011 to 2013.

However, Mr Findlay said he didn't hear of many injuries and said it was difficult to comment on the claims without knowing what the injuries were.

"I've heard of a someone breaking their finger from catching a cricket ball wrong and someone straining their back from bowling but I certainly haven't heard of 300 injuries.

"There's 150 to 200 games of cricket a week in Hawke's Bay so that's only one or two injuries a week, and [the claims] may have only been for minor injuries."

Nationally, the number of ACC claims for cricket injuries increased each year from 2011 to 2013 to a grand total of more than 20,000.

Thirty-one claims were made for cricket concussions or brain injuries in 2011, 41 in 2012 and 31 again in 2013.

Sports-related concussions or brain injury claims increased each year from 2011 to 2013, resulting in more than 15,000 claims in total.

Yesterday, ACC released new guidelines which set out what to do in cases of concussion, how to recognise the signs and symptoms, what action to take and how sports organisations could develop a concussion policy and implementation plan for their particular sports.

The recent tragic consequences of head injuries and concussion had brought widespread public focus on the importance of having well defined policies and practices to reduce the harm from concussion, ACC said.

Following Hughes' death, New Zealand Cricket head of cricket Lindsay Crocker said the sporting body was looking at how it could improve player safety.

A nationwide rule requiring children to wear helmets as soon as they started playing with a hard, leather ball might be introduced, he said.

Children in competitive games start off playing using a soft, plastic ball. They graduate to a hard, leather ball but it was up to district associations whether to make helmets compulsory.

New Zealand Cricket supplies professional players - at international and provincial level - with the same Masuri brand of helmets Hughes was wearing. However, they are newer models than the one Hughes was wearing and have more protection. NZME.