England’s cricket team are well prepared for the Ashes Cricket Tour, with a new ‘secret weapon’ – coloured sunglasses, reports the U.K. Telegraph.
In an attempt to find the best way to combat the glare during a game, numerous tests have been conducted by optometrists and sports scientists. The results have concluded that with the right eyewear, a player’s ability to spot the ball is improved by up to 28 per cent, compared to wearing no sunglasses.
Dr. Nick Dash, an English optometrist and expert in sports vision, conducted the research in a series of tests with the England Lions team in India.
The research shows the standard grey lens that has been favoured for years, will no longer suffice. The players have been told how to optimise their vision by wearing the right coloured lenses for the different conditions, including a selection of yellow, red, gold, silver and orange.
Geoff Lawson, mivision columnist, former Australian fast bowler and optometrist had a wry response to this finding, saying: “I wore tinted contact lenses when I played for Australia. I used to change the tints of my glasses depending on whether it was a day match, day-night match or overcast conditions,
“In Australia, protective eyeware, including protection from UV radiation and the fatigue elements of visible glare, has been used for many years,
“Light conditions vary widely at different times of the day and in different climates and latitudes. The longer hours of sunlight and higher UV exposure in lower latitudes, makes sunglasses more of a necessity than in England, which has lower UV and lower visible glare problems. The work outlined in this study is about 20 years behind what has happened in Australia.”
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