Cricket safety, as the governing bodies, coroners and researchers publish it.

This section is a reference to what has been published about injury and risk in cricket. It is not a safety course. Playing is learned in person from a qualified coach, and injuries are a matter for doctors; nothing on these pages replaces either. The ICC states that concussion is not a common injury in cricket, but that its possible short- and long-term health risks justify management guidelines, and its helmets page says equipment cannot always prevent death or permanent disability.

How these pages are written

• Rules carry their body, document and date. Concussion minimums, helmet rules and junior limits are each given as the named body published them, with the edition or season. There is often no single answer: a concussed professional and a concussed club player in the same country can face different minimums.
• Mandatory or guideline, said each time. Some junior bowling limits are binding regulations and some are guidelines; the pages say which.
• Disputes show each side. Where the ICC's own documents name different editions of the helmet standard, or press reports and the ICC's text describe a rule differently, both versions are given with who says each.
• Helmets are not concussion prevention. The ECB says head protectors mainly reduce the risk of skull and face fracture rather than concussion, and the NSW coroner found that the blow that killed Phillip Hughes struck an area of his neck that his helmet did not protect.
• Deaths only as the coroner published them. The Hughes findings are reported briefly, from the coroner's own document.
• Injuries are named, not treated. A suspected injury needs medical care. The pages contain no first aid, assessment or treatment.
• Nothing here certifies gear. No page says a helmet is certified, safe or legal; the standard and each body's rule decide.
• Some documents are not cited. A few governing-body documents found during research carry confidentiality labels. This site does not cite them or use facts that rest only on them, and the pages say where that leaves a gap.
• Gaps are admitted. Where a document could not be read or a figure could not be confirmed, the page says so.

What is in this section

Two pages cover concussion. Concussion and replacements explains the ICC's 2019 decision to allow concussion replacements, the first in Test cricket, the 2025 nominated replacements and the seven-day stand-down, whose scope the ICC's text and the press describe differently. Concussion rules by board sets out the return minimums of the ICC, the ECB's professional and recreational guidelines, Cricket Australia's community guidelines and NZC's policy, side by side.

Two pages cover the death of Phillip Hughes in November 2014. Phillip Hughes and the inquest reports the NSW State Coroner's findings of 4 November 2016 and his four recommendations. The Curtain review covers Cricket Australia's independent review led by David Curtain QC, announced in May 2015 and released in May 2016.

Helmet rules: the history gives a dated timeline of helmet and neck-guard rules from 2014 to the 2026 Laws, and the disagreement over which edition of BS 7928 each body names.

Injuries named lists the injuries medical studies report most often, from hamstring strains and lumbar stress fractures to hand and finger injuries and head impacts. Heat and air quality covers Cricket Australia's extreme heat guidelines, the ECB's approach as reported, and the polluted Delhi Test of 2017.

Junior cricket rules compares fast-bowling limits, helmet rules and fielding distances from the ECB, Cricket Australia, Cricket Ireland and NZC. Fielder and spectator safety covers close fielders, wicketkeepers, umpires, nets and what the Laws say about dangerous bowling. Safeguarding names the governing bodies' safeguarding policies.

Related reading

What helmets are tested to is on helmet standards, each body's current rule is on helmet rules by body, and neck guards are on neck protectors. How the umpires and the Laws run a match is on umpires and DRS and the 2026 Laws changes. Terms are explained in the glossary.