Brighter Future For Cricketers
Although elegance is often the most important criteria when it comes to ideal pair of sunglasses, the natty wraparound sunglasses serve a more serious purpose than just aesthetics. What’s more, they can revolutionize the way of playing cricket!
Obviously they block harmful ultraviolet light emitted from the sun, but advanced technology lets players use lenses which increase the amount of light in their field of vision.
Nick Dash, England and Wales Cricket Board optometrist, thinks that players’ individual sunglasses depend on their optical needs.
“Certain sunglasses can increase the contrast of different colours and are often perceived as increasing the visibility of specific tasks,” - he says. “Players often have two or three different lens types, one which is used in bright light and one that is used at the end of the day. So you can have a lens that allows 28% of the light in and one that allows 50%. However, a great addition over the last month or so has been the photochromic/transition lenses that enhance the red ball but also change darkness depending on the amount of light.”
Most England players use lenses which specifically filter light from the green end of the spectrum, enhancing the red end of light and therefore making the ball more visible in all conditions.
Because batting helmets tend to get hot very quickly and sunglasses worn underneath are more than likely to mist up at inopportune moments, luckily vented lenses are available on the market.
But the major advancement has been the introduction of tinted contact lens. This innovation has been embraced by baseball players in the United States as well as England wicket-keeper Matt Prior.
“Unlike sunglasses these lenses sit directly on the wearer’s eye, reducing visual distortion and giving clear vision from all angles,” says Dash. “These lenses are based on a red/orange tint and research has shown that choosing the correct tint can improve depth perception. However, the issue is less critical when batting because the helmet shades the eyes and so limits the glare issues.”
