Helmet rules by body: who must wear one, where, and from when.

International cricket: the ICC

The ICC announced on 15 May 2023 that from 1 June 2023 helmets would be mandatory in international cricket in three positions: batters facing fast bowling, wicket-keepers standing up to the stumps, and fielders close to the batter in front of the wicket. It said the rule started with the England v Ireland Test at Lord's on 1 June 2023 and applied to the World Test Championship final from 7 June 2023.

The ICC's later documents carry the rule in slightly different words:

• ICC Clothing and Equipment Regulations (effective January 2024). Players must wear a helmet when batting against pace bowlers, when keeping wicket standing up and when fielding close to the batter in front of the wicket, and those helmets must be certified to BS 7928:2013+A1:2019. At other times a helmet is optional, but any helmet worn must be certified to BS 7928:2013. Helmets must be one plain colour, the same for the whole team, in all formats. A neck protector is optional when batting.
• ICC Men's Test Match Playing Conditions (effective June 2025) and Men's ODI Playing Conditions (effective October 2026). Their appendix on helmets and neck protectors lists the same three positions and says all helmets must be certified to BS 7928:2013, with neck protectors optional.
• ICC helmets page (current 2026). Still words the rule conditionally, as applying to a helmet a player chooses to wear while batting, names BS 7928:2013 and does not mention the 2023 positions.

So the ICC's own documents name two editions of the standard: the January 2024 regulations ask for BS 7928:2013+A1:2019 in the mandatory positions, while the June 2025 Test and October 2026 ODI playing conditions name BS 7928:2013. Both are given here because the ICC has not resolved it in the documents opened. Before 2023, an ICC news item of 30 January 2018 said the BS 7928:2013 requirement for helmets worn while batting had applied since 1 January 2017.

Australia: Cricket Australia

Cricket Australia's helmet recommendations page says:

• Since the 2019-20 season, players in CA, state and pathway competitions must wear BS 7928:2013 helmets when batting, keeping wicket up to the stumps and fielding close to the batter.
• Since 2019 it has strongly recommended BS 7928:2013 helmets in community cricket for batting, keeping up to the stumps and fielding, and it now also strongly recommends a neck protector.
• From the 2023-24 season, batters in all CA-sanctioned competitions must wear a neck protector fitted to the back of the helmet when facing fast or medium pace.

No national Cricket Australia rule making helmets mandatory for junior community cricketers was found.

New Zealand: NZC Helmet Policy 2024-25

The policy covers the BLACKCAPS, WHITE FERNS, NZ A, NZ XI, Emerging, Development and Under 19 teams, the North v South match, Major Association players in NZC domestic and provincial A competitions, and anyone invited to train with them. For those players a BS 7928:2013 helmet is mandatory when batting against fast or medium pace, keeping up to the stumps, or fielding within 7 metres of the stumps (except behind the wicket on the off side), and strongly recommended against spin. The same applies in Hawke Cup Challenge matches and national Under 17, Under 19, men's and Under 19 women's tournaments.

In community cricket, the policy makes helmets with a face guard mandatory for junior and youth hardball players under 19, including when they play senior cricket, in play and practice, when batting, keeping within 5 metres of the stumps or fielding within 7 metres (except behind the wicket on the off side), and they must be British Standard helmets. For players 19 and over they are strongly recommended in the same situations. NZC says match referees or umpires may suspend a match until a player without dispensation complies, and that helmets must be worn when batting in the nets. No 2025-26 policy was found.

England and Wales: the ECB

Professional and representative cricket (the 2022 regulations)

The ECB's Head Protector Regulations, 2022 edition, made it mandatory, unless the ECB agreed otherwise, for players in covered matches to wear compliant headgear when batting against all types of bowling, when keeping wicket standing up, and when fielding closer than 8 yards from the batter's position on a middle-stump line (except behind square on the off side). Covered matches included England teams (not the visually impaired teams), first-class county competitions, women's regional competitions, second XI and academy matches, and The Hundred. The regulations defined a head protector as helmet, faceguard and neck protector together, and compliant headgear as certified to the most recent BSI specification for the size of ball used. For women's cricket, a head protector had to be certified against both the men's and the junior ball (the editions the regulations named are on helmet standards). In the domestic matches covered, umpires were not to let a match continue while a player refused, and headgear altered against the maker's guidance was not compliant.

That is the 2022 rule. The ECB's professional concussion guidelines (current on the ECB site in 2026) list 2023 Head Protector Regulations as a reference, so the 2022 text is not the latest edition; later editions are not used on this site. Those guidelines say head protectors are mandated in the professional game and in age-group cricket for batting, wicketkeeping and close fielding in the riskiest situations.

The ECB rule covers batting against all bowling, which is wider than the ICC's 2023 wording of batters facing fast bowling. They are different bodies' rules for different cricket.

Recreational cricket: under-18s (2025 regulations)

The ECB's Recreational Cricket Safety Regulations for 2025, read from a copy reproduced in a Cornwall Cricket handbook, make helmets mandatory for under-18s in hardball cricket: a helmet with faceguard or grille when batting in matches and practice, the same (or a face protector) when keeping wicket standing up, and the same for 16 and 17 year olds fielding within 8 yards (7.3 m) of the striking batter. Written parental consent to go without is not accepted. The ECB and PCA's guidance of 24 August 2016 had already said no parental consent to not wearing a head protector should be accepted. Full junior detail is on junior cricket rules.

Ireland, India and South Africa

Cricket Ireland's Young Cricketer Directives 2020 say any batter under 18 on the day of the match must wear a helmet, and any wicket-keeper under 18 must wear a head protector when standing up to the stumps at any speed of bowling. Its separate Head Protector Directives (2020) could not be opened. No BCCI or Cricket South Africa helmet rule was found.

What the Laws say

• Law 2.5.3 (2026 edition): the umpires must make sure no player uses equipment other than what is permitted, with Appendix A.2 defining a protective helmet.
• Appendix A.2.2: a fielder's only permitted external protective equipment is a helmet, apart from the wicket-keeper's pads and gloves.
• Law 28.3: fielding-side helmets not in use may only be put on the ground behind the wicket-keeper, in line with both sets of stumps; a ball in play hitting one becomes dead, normally with 5 penalty runs to the batting side.
• Law 29.2.1.4: the wicket can be broken fairly by part of the striker's clothing or equipment becoming detached, but detached equipment does not include the striker's protective helmet, or any part of it as defined in Appendix A.2.3 (which includes faceguards, grilles and neck guards).
• Laws 41.6 and 41.7: when judging whether short-pitched or full-toss bowling is dangerous, the umpire disregards any protective equipment the striker is wearing.

The history of these rules since 2014 is on helmet rules: the history.