Improve Fielding Performance with Cricket Sunglasses
The England cricket team have enjoyed great success in recent years, no more so than the famous back to back Ashes victories at home in 2009 and also on Australian soil in 2010-2011, a feat that had not been achieved for almost a quarter of a century. Even leading up to the most recent Ashes series not many gave England a hope of winning in Australia after the miserable run of defeats they had endured for decades to the seemingly unbeatable Australian team. However, in the background English sports scientists had been heavily researching and testing ways to improve all round performance in cricket.
Great batting performances and bowling are two obvious factors required to achieve victory but it is often dropped catches or poor fielding that allow a batter to enjoy a longer spell at the crease, often with devastating results. Leading up to the 2009 series these scientists had been secretly working on a way to combat the effects of prolonged exposure to glaring sunshine and changing light conditions that added to poor fielding and dropped catches. After going through painstaking tests they discovered that fielding performance could be improved by up to 28 percent if the correct eyewear was worn when compared to a cricketer with no sunglasses.
The English cricketers up until that point had generally chosen to wear cricket sunglasses with grey lenses, a sometimes negative factor to fielding due to this type of lens being too dark for certain light conditions. This can affect catching performance as well as visual clarity when needing to pick the ball up and throw it back towards the wicket at high speeds. Since the results of the research were revealed famous names such as Kevin Pieterson, Matt Prior and Graham Swann to name a few have all endorsed their own ranges of sunglasses through various manufacturers as testament to the increased performance wearing the correct cricket sunglasses can bring.
Generally wraparound style visor cricket sunglasses are preferred due to the large lens surface that offers good impact and sun protection, whilst maximising peripheral vision and minimising the weight of the sunglasses. Many manufacturers recommend interchangeable cricket sunglasses as the best solution to cope with ever changing light conditions, mirrored or grey smoke lenses improve vision on bright days, brown and amber are great for changeable conditions, yellow lenses are suited to low light and a clear lens would be seen as the best for the darkest light conditions. As cricketers are generally exposed to long periods of sunlight at all levels of the game, it is essential to protect the eyes from UV rays even in low light. The lens material plays an important part in ensuring that cricket sunglasses are shatterproof, a tough polycarbonate lens being the best solution.