--- title: Australia Cricketers Test New Helmet Design After Phillip Hughes Death description: Innovative design intended to better protect batsmen following death of Australian cricket star Phillip Hughes in November canonical: https://time.com/3721682/australia-cricket-phillip-hughes-helmet-safety-masuri/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-25T06:26:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:41:33.319Z article:section: Sports og:title: Australian Cricketers to Test New Helmet Design og:description: New innovation rolled out following death of Phillip Hughes who was struck by a ball. og:url: https://time.com/3721682/australia-cricket-phillip-hughes-helmet-safety-masuri/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41a08c06573cc216/698780dd2dce01d7339ddba1/rtr4ghr7.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cricket bats line the funeral procession route for Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes outside a primary school in his home town of Macksville og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Australian Cricketers to Test New Helmet Design twitter:description: New innovation rolled out following death of Phillip Hughes who was struck by a ball. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41a08c06573cc216/698780dd2dce01d7339ddba1/rtr4ghr7.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Australia Cricketers to Test New Helmet Design Following Phillip Hughes' Death by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Feb 25, 2015 6:26 AM CUT  Cricket bats line the funeral procession route for Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes outside a primary school in his home town of Macksville, Dec. 3, 2014 Cricket bats line the funeral procession route for Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes outside a primary school in his home town of Macksville, Dec. 3, 2014Jason Reed—Reuters by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Feb 25, 2015 6:26 AM CUT Australian cricket batsmen will over coming weeks test a new helmet design that features a protective attachment to guard the backs of players’ necks, announced Cricket Australia representative Pat Howard on Wednesday. Upgrading existing helmet designs had become a priority following the tragic death of Australian professional cricketer Phillip Hughes during a match in November. The 25-year-old collapsed on the field after getting struck on the side of the neck by a bouncing ball, and died two days later in a Sydney hospital. His death was attributed to a brain hemorrhage, AFP reports. British company Masuri is producing the new clip-on helmet attachments, which are constructed from hard plastic and foam. Howard called the new design “quite innovative” and said players “are very receptive to trying it” following Hughes’ passing. “It’s got impact protection and comes down the side of the head,” said Howard. “Players will be given an opportunity to try it out in a game outside an international, but work our way up.” Cricket Australia says it will work with the International Cricket Council to push the new helmet design into worldwide use should trials prove successful. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3721682/australia-cricket-phillip-hughes-helmet-safety-masuri/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3721682/australia-cricket-phillip-hughes-helmet-safety-masuri/"},"headline":"Australia Cricketers to Test New Helmet Design Following Phillip Hughes' Death","datePublished":"2015-02-25T06:26:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:41:33.319Z","description":"Innovative design intended to better protect batsmen","url":"https://time.com/3721682/australia-cricket-phillip-hughes-helmet-safety-masuri/","keywords":["Cricket","Australia","safety"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41a08c06573cc216/698780dd2dce01d7339ddba1/rtr4ghr7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41a08c06573cc216/698780dd2dce01d7339ddba1/rtr4ghr7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cricket bats line the funeral procession route for Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes outside a primary school in his home town of Macksville","caption":"Cricket bats line the funeral procession route for Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes outside a primary school in his home town of Macksville","creditText":"Jason Reed—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cricket/","name":"Cricket"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3721682/australia-cricket-phillip-hughes-helmet-safety-masuri/","name":"Australia Cricketers to Test New Helmet Design Following Phillip Hughes' Death"}}]}] ```