When Hansie Cronje’s first-ever Helmet Cam brought the future to the field

Soumyajit Dutta

Hansie Cronje wearing world's first ever Helmet Cam in cricket [Source: From Ashes to Archive/YouTube.com]Hansie Cronje wearing world's first ever Helmet Cam in cricket [Source: From Ashes to Archive/YouTube.com]

Cricket is a sport that found popularity very quickly. With that came the influx of broadcasting demands that paved the way for the game to become the world's most popular mode of entertainment, television.

The first cricket match to get televised was back on June 24, 1938. The Lord's Test that saw the game premier on the little black box that has now developed into sleek modern LEDs in our very homes.

Fast forward to 2025, and we now have probably the best technology can offer. From Ultraedge reviews to robotic dog cameras that we see in leagues like IPL, broadcasting has come a long way, and someone who tried to give us a whiff of that broadcasting revolution was the South African cricketer, Hansie Cronje, when he dared to wear a contraption that barely let him walk out on the field.

Cronje's camera: The first POV in cricket

Back in the 90s, Channel 9 were the global leader in cricket coverage and was one of the broadcasting giants that dared to do something that people three decades back wouldn't even dare to.

Back in 1993, during the Allan Border tribute game at the iconic Gabba Stadium. The charity match that featured two teams named International XI and Allan Border's XI saw legends playing the event.

Doug Walters, Joel Garner, Barry Richards, Peter Sterling, Allan Border, Ian Healy, Greg Richie, Craig McDermott were among the names where Hansie Cronje, just after his debut in 1992, walked up in an effort to bring a revolution in cricket viewing experience.

Channel 9, the broadcasting partners of the match, dared to send Hansie Cronje out with a camera contraption that stunned both the crowd and the on-field players.

When Hansie Cronje walked out with a satellite on his head

Cronje at the pitch with the camera [Source: From Ashes to Archive/YouTube.com]Cronje at the pitch with the camera [Source: From Ashes to Archive/YouTube.com]

In his Baggy Green jersey of the International XI, Hansie Cronje walked out wearing a huge black belt that held the camera and its wires, along with a helmet fitted with a detachable cylindrical camera attached to the right side of the grill. To transmit the footage, a mini satellite-like structure was mounted above the helmet.

As complex as it sounds, Cronje’s appearance was comical too. He walked out to bat, and the crowd was in awe as live footage aired directly from the pitch to the televisions.

While such visuals are common today, thanks to GoPros (miniature wireless cameras), umpire-hat cams, and stump cameras providing unique angles, back then, it was revolutionary.

The short life of the helmet cam

However, it remained just an experiment, as no one truly knew what they had set in motion. The camera was discontinued after the match, likely due to its bulky complexity, making it difficult for players to operate on the pitch.

Today, far more advanced and compact technologies exist that, even if not always used for broadcasting, help deliver better angles to analyse dismissals with greater accuracy, which just might have been inspired by perhaps a comical yet bold attempt of Cronje.