Cricket helmet standards: what BS 7928 tests, and which edition each body names.

BS 7928: the current edition

BSI lists BS 7928:2013+A1:2019, "Specification for head protectors for cricketers", as current. It was published on 30 June 2019 by BSI committee PH/6/6. BSI's summary says the standard sets requirements for materials, construction, markings and the information supplied with head and neck protectors for adult and junior cricketers. It includes a drop test for impact attenuation and a projectile test of whether a ball, or the faceguard itself, reaches a defined no-contact zone of the face.

What it does not cover

BSI's summary says the standard does not cover:

• testing with a women's-size ball;
• variants such as kwik cricket, incrediball and street cricket;
• the particular impact risks of fielders and wicket-keepers. Close fielders and keepers may wear these head protectors, but the test protocol is designed around batting impacts.

Earlier editions

• BS 7928:1998 was an earlier edition. NZC's 2024-25 Helmet Policy tells its Major Associations to remove helmets that comply only with earlier standards, naming BS 7928:1998 and AS/NZS 4499.1:1997.
• BS 7928:2013, dated December 2013, was the latest British standard for cricket helmets in November 2014, as the NSW State Coroner recorded in his findings of 4 November 2016.
• BS 7928:2013+A1:2019 followed on 30 June 2019. The ICC says the 2019 update added specifications for neck protectors. Standards resellers, seen only in search-result summaries, describe the 2019 revision as adding a facial projectile test and junior ball sizes instead; BSI's own page describes both tests without saying which edition introduced them. The ICC's account is the one from a governing body, and the resellers' version is unconfirmed.

The tests, as the ICC describes them

The ICC's helmets page (current in 2026) describes three parts:

• Facial contact projectile test: whether a ball penetrates the faceguard, or the faceguard is pushed onto the face, at realistic speeds.
• Two ball sizes: helmets are tested separately against a men's ball (5.5 oz) and a junior ball (4.75 oz).
• Neck protectors: a coverage test and an impact-attenuation drop test, aimed at injuries to the base of the back of the head and the upper neck.

The ICC says a compliant helmet should carry a label naming the standard and stating whether it was tested against the men's ball, the junior ball or both. It links a list of helmets meeting BS 7928:2013 and BS 7928:2013+A1:2019, dated 29 September 2026 and split into senior, junior or both; that list was not opened for this site.

Ball names have moved on

The 2017 Code 4th Edition (2026) of the Laws renamed the balls Size 1, Size 2 and Size 3 (see the ball). BS 7928 and the ICC's helmets page still speak of men's and junior balls, and no source found maps the standard's test balls onto the new size names.

Women's cricket: no separate standard

The ICC says there is no women's helmet standard. Because the women's ball sits between the men's and junior sizes, it recommends helmets tested against both balls, or at least the junior ball, since a smaller ball could pass through the gap above the faceguard of a helmet tested only for the men's ball. NZC's 2024-25 policy says women must use helmets tested against both sizes, or at least the junior size. The ECB's Head Protector Regulations (2022 edition) went further for the matches they covered: for women's cricket, a head protector had to be certified to the most recent BSI specification against both the men's and the junior ball.

Wicket-keepers' face protectors: BS 7928-2:2009

BSI lists a separate standard, BS 7928-2:2009, "Head and face protection for cricketers: Face protectors for cricket wicket-keepers", as current, published on 31 December 2009. More on keepers is on wicketkeeping gloves.

The Australian standard, AS/NZS 4499

The NSW coroner recorded that in November 2014 the latest Australian standard for cricket helmets was AS/NZS 4499:1997, that it was withdrawn from 18 March 2015 and declared obsolete from 18 June 2015, with no plan then for a replacement, and that from 15 February 2015 the ICC told member boards BS 7928:2013 would be the de facto international standard. NZC's 2024-25 policy calls BS 7928:2013 helmets "best of breed" and says they supersede the AS/NZS 4499 series.

Which edition? The documents disagree

Every version below fits the 2019 edition being the 2013 standard plus an amendment, but the bodies word it differently, and the ICC's own documents name two editions.

The ECB's Head Protector Regulations row is the 2022 rule; the ECB's professional concussion guidelines refer to later, 2023 Head Protector Regulations. The ECB's 2025 recreational regulations are read from a copy reproduced in a Cornwall Cricket handbook, not from an ECB-hosted file. Each body's current document governs its own cricket; the rules themselves are on helmet rules by body.

In the Laws

Appendix A.2.3 of the 2026 edition defines a protective helmet as headwear of hard material designed to protect the head, neck and/or face, and counts faceguards, grilles and neck guards as part of it.

After a blow

The ICC says helmets absorb impact energy, which can damage their structure, and that any component that takes a severe blow should be replaced even if no damage is visible. NZC's 2024-25 policy says a helmet must be replaced after a severe impact from a ball, if damage can be seen or felt, or after a hard knock or squashing. Any blow to the head is a matter for medical assessment; the bodies' concussion rules are on concussion rules by board.