Post Steven Smith's injury, CA set to make neck guards compulsory

Australia's Steven Smith is hit on the neck by England pacer Jofra Archer on Saturday

Sydney: Compulsory neck guards on helmets for Australian cricketers are "not far away", the national team's medical chief said yesterday after a sickening blow felled Steven Smith during the second Ashes Test. Australia have been at the forefront of pressing for better safety measures after the death of Phillip Hughes, who was hit on the base of the skull by a bouncer in a Sheffield Shield game in 2014. Following an independent investigation into the tragedy, Cricket Australia introduced new rules for concussion substitutes in domestic games. These have now been adopted by the ICC and were used for the first time when Smith was replaced by Marnus Labuschagne on Sunday against England at Lord's after medics ruled him unfit to carry on.

The inquest into Hughes's death also recommended first-class players in Australia wear helmets made to British safety standards while batting against medium pace or fast bowling

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever