The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in partnership with BBC SPORT and play-cricket.com, today launched a helmet initiative whereby cricket clubs and schools can purchase three junior-size helmets for their young cricketers for a special price of just £10 (plus VAT).

The initiative aims to facilitate the introduction of cricket helmets for young players in clubs and schools, and follows the introduction last year of the ECB safety guidance covering the wearing of cricket helmets by cricketers under 18 while batting and keeping wicket. The promotion represents a significant saving and should help to encourage hard ball cricket in clubs and schools.

A total of some 20,000 helmets will be distributed to clubs and schools, with each club/school entitled to three helmets supplied in a special carrier bag. Deliveries will start in March 2001.

To take advantage of this exclusive offer, all interested parties are being asked to register their details on the ECB's website for recreational cricket - www.play-cricket.com - from where they will be able to make their purchase through a specially designed play-cricket shop. Those without Internet access should write to the ECB Cricket Department at Lord's.

The helmets have been carefully designed to offer improved adjustability for communal use and better ventilation. Significant progress has been made in reducing the weight of the helmets, with lighter face guards which still conform to the British Standard. The ECB has selected three manufacturers, after an open tender, to supply the helmets: Gunn & Moore, Gray-Nicolls and Chase Masuri.

Frank Kemp, ECB Cricket Operations Manager (Recreational Cricket), said: "This significant initiative, which has been made possible by the partnership with BBC SPORT, should ensure that any club or school can provide helmets for communal use, so that players who do not have their own helmet can play with a hard ball, in line with the safety guidance that we issued last year. Each of the chosen suppliers has made important improvements to their helmets to make them easy to adjust to differing head sizes, to reduce the weight of the helmet and particularly of the face guard, and to increase the ventilation to reduce any risk of dehydration."

A spokesman for the Children's Head Injury Trust said: "The Children's Head Injury Trust is delighted at the England and Wales Cricket Board's initiative encouraging young cricketers to wear helmets. As a charity working with head-injured children and their families, we believe that the ECB is playing a valuable part in helping prevent the appalling consequences of head injuries in children that can have such a devastating effect on families."

The Children's Head Injury Trust is a national charity dedicated to supporting head-injured children and their families through an information and support service, the publication of a range of booklets and a nationwide network of support groups.

For further information, write to the ECB Cricket Department, Lord's Cricket Ground, London, NW8 8QZ.

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