English cricket is "exploring the introduction of injury substitutes for the first time" and testing is also being "carried out on skullcaps to protect bowlers and umpires from serious head injuries," according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. The England & Wales Cricket Board’s cricket committee will in September discuss "allowing teams to substitute an injured player, such as one suffering from a concussion injury," that rules the player out of the rest of the match. The idea follows Cricket Australia trialing "the use of concussion substitutes this winter in state cricket." The ECB will "monitor the success of that rule change before deciding on whether to copy the initiative" in professional cricket in England. On Saturday, Nottinghamshire’s Luke Fletcher was hospitalized with a "nasty" head injury sustained when Warwickshire batsman Sam Hain "smashed the ball straight back at him." In the future, Nottinghamshire "could replace Fletcher with a substitute to make up for his loss." For the proposal to become law, it would require "a change in the ECB’s playing regulations which would need to be rubber stamped" by the full exec board (TELEGRAPH, 7/11). The LONDON TIMES reported the ECB has already had discussions with other sports, including baseball, "about how bowlers' heads can be protected." The difficulty will be in developing a helmet that "does not restrict a bowler's movement, which is considerably more significant than a batsman's." After his injury on Saturday, Fletcher explained that he had "already given up bowling" at batsmen in the nets during T20 practice sessions because of "the danger of the ball being struck back at him." He said, "I don't do it any more. We have had so many close calls in the 10 years I have been playing because you don't have time to move at all" (LONDON TIMES, 7/12).
