By Nigel Little 

Contact lenses for sport  have now become well-established as a solution to poor vision for most sports participants but cricket was one of the last major sports to move away from glasses. Not so long ago, leading batsmen in the world numbered the likes of Geoffrey Boycott, David Steele, Clive Lloyd and Zaheer Abbas, all of whom built their reputations by seeing off the best bowlers of the day with spectacles perched on the end of their noses. Now only the New Zealand captain, Daniel Vettori, remains performing at the top level in international cricket as a glasses wearer. And with the arrival of ortho-k corrective contact lenses which are only worn overnight while sleeping, cricketers can now take the field with clear natural vision - a timely innovation as the Cricket World Cup begins!

The need to wear a helmet to face up to fast bowling is an obvious constraint for top level cricketers who would otherwise wear glasses and a number of recent innovations in contact lenses for sport  have provided further benefits. As an example, Nike brought the idea of red coloured lenses to the sports market with the idea that tinting would provide more definitive vision in outdoor light and this was first picked up by golfers who often lose sight of their ball after contact. In cricket, these red lenses were trialled by Andrew Strauss, England's captain but there did not appear to be a sufficiently big advantage over conventional contact lenses which functioned effectively.

However, even conventional contact lenses have disadvantages for top level cricketers and golfers especially in dry and gusty conditions when dust and grass particles can get into the player's eye and cause major irritation. Also, for those sports participants who suffer from allergies like hay fever, wearing contact lenses can be extremely uncomfortable when pollen levels are high - usually throughout the late spring and summer which is the main period for playing cricket. Now the recent introduction of ortho-k corrective contact lenses for sport  provides a solution. These lenses correct short-sightedness overnight whilst the wearer is asleep and are then removed the following morning leaving the wearer with sharp natural vision. For cricketers everywhere, this means that the days of dropping catches or playing and missing due to dusty, itchy contact lenses are now over.

Check if you are suitable for overnight ortho-k corrective contact lenses .