Clarke uses new helmet after Rogers blow

Australia

Australia captain Michael Clarke has started using the new Masuri helmet with the StemGuard foam padding, even though it's uncomfortable, after seeing Chris Rogers struck in the same place and Phillip Hughes had been.

Hughes, one of Clarke's closest friends, dies in November last year after being hit behind the ear by a bouncer, and Masuri then designed a new foam padding for the neck area.

Clarke had tried it over the months, but didn't like it, until Rogers copped a blow in the same place in the second Ashes Test at Lord's. He then opted to start using it, in a bid to be safer in the middle.

Clarke said: "(Team physio Alex Kountouris) has done a study on it and he showed me where Broad got hit and Kieswetter and where Bucky (Rogers) got hit …

"And then next morning Bucky came out and got hit right on the same spot (as Hughes) and that made my mind up for me.

"I got rid of my old helmet there and then and made up my mind I am using the new one."

He added of making an adjustment: "My gear hasn't changed for my whole career. My pads are the same, gloves are the same, so you are used to what you are used to.

"Because I wear my collar up I can feel it there, it is more of a feel thing, like anything it is just about making that change.

"The grille sits a little bit higher than my old Masuri so it’s taken a little bit of time to get used to seeing the ball and having the grille in my peripheral vision."

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