What's in a Professional Cricketer's Kit Bag?
A professional cricketer's kit bag holds much the same things as a club player's, only more of them: more bats, more gloves, spares of almost everything. What has to go in it is set by the rules on protective equipment, which the ECB rewrote for the professional game in December 2025. This page covers what named professionals say they carry, what the rules now require, and a checklist for a club player's bag.
What Professionals Say They Carry
| Player | What they have said | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Babar Azam | Six or seven bats, chosen by weight to suit the venue | Dawn, November 2021 |
| Babar Azam | Seven or eight kit bags on tour, seven or eight pairs of gloves in hot weather, three pairs of batting spikes | Kit-bag video, reported September 2024 |
| Steve Smith | Usually about ten bats to choose from on a tour | The Cricket Paper, July 2023 |
Babar told Dawn that "the more bats I carry the more confused I get", which is why he settles on his best few. His three pairs of spikes have a job each: one for practice, one he is wearing, one spare in the bag. The Cricket Paper described Smith, before the 2023 Headingley Test, picking out six numbered bats by feel while blindfolded in a Cricket Australia video. Cricket Australia and others have also published kit-bag tours with players such as Will Pucovski and Ellyse Perry, and the pattern is the same: duplicates of everything that wears out or gets wet.
Why Professionals Carry So Many Bats
A bat can crack or lose its edge in the middle of a tour, and a new English willow bat needs hours of knocking in before it faces a hard ball, so professionals travel with replacements already prepared. Weight is the other reason: Babar picks a bat to suit the venue, and a heavier or lighter bat on the same profile changes how a batter plays. Our knocking-in guide explains why a spare bat cannot simply come out of its wrapper on the day.
What the Rules Now Require
In the Professional Game
Since 4 December 2025, the ECB's Head Protector Regulations require compliant headgear in English professional cricket, from internationals to the County Championship, the Blast, the Hundred and Second XI cricket. The head protector is defined as the full assembly of helmet, faceguard and neck protector, and it must be worn when batting against all types of bowling, when keeping wicket standing up, and when fielding closer than 8 yards from the batter on a middle-stump line. The standard named is BS 7928:2013+A1:2019. Cricket Australia made neck protectors compulsory against fast and medium pace from October 2023.
In Club and Junior Cricket
The ECB's recreational safety guidelines, updated in December 2025, set the rules for everyone else:
- Under-18s must wear a helmet with a faceguard or grille when batting against a hard ball, in matches and in practice, and when keeping wicket standing up, where a face protector is an alternative.
- Boys under 18 must wear a box whenever they are required to wear a helmet.
- Adults are recommended, not required, to wear a helmet when batting, keeping standing up or fielding close.
- Neck protectors are strongly advised for every cricketer whenever a helmet is worn.
In the Laws
Law 28 says no fielder other than the wicketkeeper may wear gloves or external leg guards, and a helmet not in use may only be put on the ground behind the keeper; if the ball hits it, the batting side gets penalty runs. Law 5 sets the limits on bat size, and from 1 October 2026 it also allows laminated Type D bats in open-age cricket, at levels each governing body decides.
A Club Player's Kit Bag
| Item | Why it is in the bag |
|---|---|
| Helmet with grille, to BS 7928 | Required for under-18s batting or keeping up to a hard ball; recommended for adults |
| Neck protector | Strongly advised by the ECB whenever a helmet is worn |
| Box | Required for boys under 18 whenever a helmet is; recommended for men |
| Batting gloves, and a spare pair | The ECB names fingers and hands as the most injured parts of the body in cricket |
| Thigh pad | The ECB names the thigh as the second most common injury site in club cricket |
| Pads, and an arm or chest guard against fast bowling | Standard batting protection |
| A prepared bat | Knocked in before it faces a hard ball |
| Spikes, whites, cap, sun cream and water | The rest of a day in the field |
| Keeping gloves, keeping pads and a helmet or face protector | For wicketkeepers |
We sell bats and cricket shirts rather than protective kit, so for the protective items, buy to the standards above. For the bat, our guide to the best cricket bats picks from every price band, and the cricket bat size guide sizes it by height.
FAQs: Cricket Kit Bags
How many bats do professional cricketers carry?
The players who have said put it at six to ten on tour: Babar Azam six or seven, Steve Smith about ten.
Do you have to wear a helmet in cricket?
In English professional cricket, yes, when batting, keeping up or fielding close. In club cricket, under-18s must wear one against a hard ball, and adults are recommended to.
Is a neck guard compulsory in cricket?
In English professional cricket it is part of the required head protector. In club cricket the ECB strongly advises one whenever a helmet is worn.
Do cricketers have to wear a box?
Boys under 18 must whenever they are required to wear a helmet, and the ECB recommends one for men in the same situations.
What should be in a junior cricket kit bag?
A helmet with grille, a box for boys, gloves, pads, a thigh pad and a bat sized to their height.
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