Another day, another hallowed cricket tradition falls. After matches that can be completed in three hours, cheerleaders, players auctioned to the highest bidder and pink balls, a further piece of iconoclasm occurred at Lord’s yesterday when the last rites were read for the cable-knit cricket sweater.

The woollen V-necked jumper — baggy and bearing mysterious stains — has been a part of cricket at all levels since the early days but when adidas, the new England kit supplier, unveiled its 2008 collection at the home of cricket, cable-knit had been replaced by the figure-hugging ClimaCool, a man-made fibre said to push sweat away from cricketers’ skin.

“England will be cooler, drier and more comfortable than ever before,” Hugh Morris, the managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, said. “With this kit, England will be the best-equipped team in the world.” The innovation was warmly greeted by Michael Vaughan, England’s Test captain. “The cricket sweater has been my bugbear for many a year,” he said. “This new fabric will give us a lighter feel. Even if it’s a little cold, I am delighted to see the end of the last woolly sweater.”

However, Bob Willis, the former England captain, said that the old sweater was “a very important piece of kit” for fast bowlers. “In cold weather, when you’d finished bowling ten overs and were dripping with perspiration it would keep you cool,” he said.

John Woodcock, the venerable former cricket correspondent of The Times and former Editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, said that he was sorry to see another tradition go. “I have the fondest memories of old-style sweaters,” he said.

“They were lovely and warm; you’d need a couple of them on a day like today. I suppose next they will replace the traditional England cap with a baseball cap.”

Things have not yet come to that, but no doubt there will be some dismay at another innovation yesterday: the idea that cricket whites should be white. Traditionally, cricketers have worn off-white or cream-coloured trousers, but the new England kit is what paint manufacturers would call brilliant white, with red piping.

“This is the first official whites we’ve played in,” Vaughan said. “It should stand out and hopefully will improve our performance.” The clothing scientists have not yet developed a way of keeping grass stains off the knees.

Even if England no longer want to wear wool, the traditional cricket sweater has become fashionable beyond the boundary. It was even the outfit of choice for Peter Davison’s Doctor Who in the 1980s. Peter Smith, of Huntsman, the Savile Row tailors, said the cricket sweater was “a lovely thing that has been worn for many, many years”.

Philip Turner, of Smart Turnout, a web-based outfitter, said that there was high demand for cricket jumpers that had the coloured trim around the neck and waist of the public schools and military regiments.

“Our most popular sweater is the blue-red-blue trim of the Household Division, which gets buyers from the US as it is also the colour of the University of Pennsylvania,” he said.

However, if wool and V-necks remain popular among spectators and village cricketers, they are heading in the same direction as cigarette breaks and post-match pints as far as modern professionals are concerned.

Only four of the eighteen English counties are wearing woollen jumpers this season and the India Test side have also started wearing man-made fabrics. For now, Australia, who also proudly keep their tradition of baggy green caps going, remain most wedded to wool.

Suits you sir – and madam

The pool The type of skimpy, skin-tight nylon trunks in which Mark Spitz won a record-breaking seven swimming gold medals at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich may soon be a thing of the past. The ideal of having as much skin and as little fabric as possible in contact with the water is being reversed by a new generation of all-body fast suits

The course The same technology that has rendered the cricket jumper obsolete has also come to the rescue of golf fans. The diamond-patterned jumpers that once seemed as integral to the sport as clubs and caddies have been replaced by manmade fibres, sending garish woollens the way of the plus-four

The pitch In the 1940s, football was played in cumbersome boots with studs nailed into the soles. These heavyweights, which encased the foot and ankle in stiff leather, have gradually given way to the low-topped, laceless models of today

The court When women first stepped on to the Wimbledon Centre Court in 1884, the finalist Maud Watson scandalised the crowd by wearing a dress that exposed her ankles. Improved sportswear — and perhaps morals — have shortened skirts, and replaced bodices with sport shirts

Source: Time archives

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