All had helmets

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The utility cyclist
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Re: All had helmets

Post by The utility cyclist »

Cyril Haearn wrote:
mattheus wrote:I've been watching some World Cup cricket games. Most of the time, only 3 of the 15 people on pitch are wearing helmets.

Have you seen how fast the ball travels, and how hard it is?? I'd want an "I've been brave" sticker just for fielding in slip!

Terrifying, how much slower is the ball after the batsperson has hit it? I would be much too scared to play cricket but I do follow and read about it, for 'life is an elaborate metaphor for cricket'

Played cricket at a decent level for two seasons 30 years ago whilst at college, got struck under the jaw by a ball that came off the bat of my own team mate as I was backing up on the last bowl of a limited overs game (I was virtually halfway down the pitch), cracked my molar and I had blood coming out my mouth, managed to bowl when we were fielding and got it sorted at the dentist the following week.

From what I can see the head injury strikes are ridiculously more common nowadays and the injuries to the head are more prevalent in the pro ranks since mandatory helmet wearing. Quite a few people I've spoken to say that it's down to not being as skilled with dealing with a bouncer/rising ball, and a greater tendency to simply stand rooted and clueless to either ducking or swaying out of the way. Also bowlers feel less worried about bowling at the head (In nthe same way gridiron allowed players to lead with their heads into the tackle amongst other ridiculously dangerous 'defensive' moves)
The helmet clearly changes the way batters and any other sports/activities participants think, you see similar also with close in fielders. I used to field everywhere barring the slips (boring) but loved being in really close, wearing a helmet never crossed my mind, I suspect the batsmen were equally as wary when a fielder was in close proximity but some would deliberately target you anyways but not once was I struck by bat or ball fielding there, the nearest I got to getting clocked (other than my earlier example, was fielding deep and the ball was rolling along the ground at speed. Just as I went down in the traditional manner the ball must have hit a divot and it pinged up right past my lughole, if I'd have been wearing a hel,et it would have hit me on the head, as it was it went right past me to the boundary and I was royally got stuck into for not stopping it with my head :lol:
That every single sport/activity has shown no improvements in injury rates when wearing plastic hats (and as far as I can see most if not all got worse despite other interventions too) should come as no surprise if you understand the extremely low limitations of the profit making product and just a tiny amount with respect to physics/biology and human behaviour. If not the information is out there to explain it all but the pro helmet lot simply won't acknowledge nor accept it. People like the dangerous Jake Olivier deny that risk homeostasis has any impact on cycling incidents with regards to helmets, typical flog! :twisted:
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