Does Sir Viv need head(gear) examining?

Following up to Sir Viv Richards' interview with the Observer yesterday, in which the legend lamented the wearing of helmets and body armour and the effect it has on some modern batsmen, Alan Tyers writes on Cricket365.com that it's hard to see how helmets could now be outlawed. You can't un-invent technology, and it's inconceivable that the ICC could forbid the wearing of something that could save a batsman's life, he says.

Of course, Sir Viv, who famously never wore a helmet himself, has got more right to speak than almost anyone else alive about the matter. But it must have made batting a bit easier, knowing that you had Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner et al on your side - not just because you didn't have to face them - but because you knew that they could return with interest any punishment that their Windies batting colleagues received. Maybe if he'd had to play for England in the 1980s against the West Indies he might have considered, even for a second, the merits of the lid.