Cricket Clothing and Equipment - Clothing and Protective Wear

Clothing and Protective Wear

• A polo shirt which is worn by everyone in the match (T-shirt with collar). Long-sleeved collared shirts are also widely used.
• Long trousers (often white, but stained red in parts from polishing the ball)
• Jumper (a woollen pullover, if necessary). This is usually a vest.
• Jockstrap into which a "box" is inserted and held in place.
• Abdomen guard or "box" or an L Guard for male batsmen and wicket-keepers (often referred to as a cup, box or abdo guard). It is usually constructed from high density plastic with a padded edge, shaped like a hollow half-pear, and inserted into the jockstrap style underwear of the batsmen and wicket-keeper. This is used to protect the testicles against impact from the ball
• Sun hats, cricket cap or baseball cap
• Spiked shoes to increase traction
• Helmet (often with a visor), worn by batsmen and fielders close to the batsman on strike.
• Leg pads, worn by the two batsmen and the wicket-keeper, used to protect the shin bone against impact from the ball, fielders that are fielding in close to the batsmen may wear shin guards as well.
• Thigh guard, arm guards, chest guard, and elbow guards to protect the body of the batsmen.
• Gloves for batsmen only, thickly padded above the fingers and on the thumb of the hand, to protect against impact from the ball as it is bowled
• Wicket keeper's gloves for the wicket-keeper which are larger and look like mitts. Usually includes webbing between the thumb and index fingers.

The keeper's leg guards are slightly different from the batsman's. Batsmen are allowed to wear gloves while batting. The batsman can be also caught out if the ball touches the glove instead of the bat, provided the hand is in contact with the bat. This is because the glove is considered to be the extension of the bat. The batsman may also wear protective helmets usually with a visor to protect themselves. Helmets are usually employed when facing fast bowlers. While playing spinners, it might not be employed.

Fielders cannot use gloves to field the ball. If they willfully use any part of their clothing to field the ball they may be penalised 5 penalty runs to the opposition. If the fielders are fielding close to the batsman, they are allowed to use helmets and leg guards worn under their clothing.

The wicketkeeper, due to being directly behind the batsman and therefore having the ball bowled directly at him is allowed to wear leg guards, a helmet, a light internal glove and a large external glove like a mitt.