Almost 12 months since a sharp deflection against pace concussed Alistair Taylor, the premier gloveman standing north of Campbell Town has gone into bat for the wearing of helmets at all costs.
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Taylor was forced to stand out of cricket for two weeks following the serious blow to the head all the while still in the midst of a match for the Greater Northern Raiders.
The 24-year-old has now admitted without changes to the laws of the game in the past two seasons that forced wicketkeepers compulsorily to don protective headgear while wicketkeeping up to the stumps he would have been left with a cracked skull.
In a recent social media post, Taylor pleaded with all cricketers to have a helmet in ready for the season ahead.
"I can tell you first hand if it wasn't for the laws in place now, my concussion last year would have been a lot worse!" Taylor wrote.
Play had been stopped for 10 minutes against Clarence last November while Taylor was treated on the field until being rushed off to hospital after getting back to his feet and feeling dizzy.
The Raiders vice-captain would suffer from a series of headaches in the aftermath that forced him to have CT scans and eventually miss days off work to fully recover.
Taylor would heal from his injury quickly enough but the reverberations are being felt heading into a new Cricket Tasmania Premier League season from October 5.
"I was pretty shaken by it - if it wasn't for a helmet, I'd have a cracked skull I reckon to be fair," Taylor said.
"It hit me flush on my forehead. If it was a cracked skull, who knows what could have happened. It took 12 days to get it right to train again."
The injury that would have dented his pride more than his head no longer hurts.
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Taylor appears to now be a changed cricketer, happy to be the advocate for greater safety following the incident.
The TCL will introduce a rule to ensure batsmen have to wear a helmet this season.
"I've changed a lot now - when I used to wicket keep until the rule was brought in to wear a helmet, I never had worn a helmet up to the stumps before," he said.
"In hindsight if it wasn't for that rule it could have been worse, especially when the incident took place in the middle of an over so I probably wouldn't have run off to get a helmet. I wouldn't have done it for a couple of balls.
"My whole thinking process now and coaching is just wear a helmet, whether it's just throwdowns or whatever because you never know."
The fear of head injuries was first heightened in 2014 following the tragic death of ex-Australian opener Phillip Hughes in a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG.
Though another batting incident, Taylor believed that watching Australian great Steve Smith being struck off a steep ball from English quick Jofra Archer in the Lords Test has reinforced the thinking.
Taylor went as far as saying he now "feels a bit stupid".
"I don't think I ever got hit in the head before," he said.
"I only might have copped the odd graze to my chin or something, but it really didn't make you think of it much."
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