We have seen serious injuries suffered by David Fulton and more recently Craig Kieswetter and Stuart Broad, and it has been established now by overdue testing that a moveable grille is simply not as safe as a fixed one.
Yet these rules were in the planning stages before the tragic death of Australia batsman Phillip Hughes and do not include the neck guards you see some — but not all — players wearing now. In that instance they still have a choice, for now at least.
In the United States they have a ‘grandfather’ clause that has been used in professional baseball and ice hockey and allows established players to carry on as they were while new rules are adopted by the younger generation.
Maybe we should look at something like that or, if there are legal ramifications, perhaps Cook could sign a disclaimer taking full responsibility for his safety and ruling out any legal action should he be hurt by a cricket ball. He is a grown man and is fully aware of the risks.
Believe me, Cook will not be thinking about Essex’s early Championship matches simply as practice for the Test series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Every innings matters to him and it will irk him greatly that he is having to go through this.
The good thing is that helmets are getting safer and I would urge the parents of any youngster involved in the game to make their son or daughter wear one of the new models.
And I would urge manufacturers to make them as affordable as possible because there is a cost issue here.
But Cook is a sensible man who knows his responsibilities to the wider game. When he faces the first delivery against Sri Lanka at Headingley on May 19 needing just 36 runs to reach 10,000 in Tests, he has to be 100 per cent confident in his ability to see the ball.
If he can reach that state of mind by then in a new helmet, fine, but if not we must find a way to let him stick with his old one because I would rather have the England captain confident and comfortable. He has earned the right to make his own choices.
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