Australian cricketer Steven Smith was seen wearing black eye strips during
practice on November 30 for the upcoming pink-ball Ashes Test in Brisbane.
These strips are placed on the cheekbones and help reduce light reflecting
off the skin by more than half. This makes it easier for players to see clearly.
West Indies cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul made these strips popular years ago.
They are very useful when playing with the pink cricket ball, which has a black
seam that can be hard to see under bright floodlights.
These strips also show how modern sports use small, helpful technologies to
support athletes. Many of these tools help players deal with difficult conditions
without giving them an unfair advantage. They help restore what the environment
takes away — like clear vision under strong lights, better support for joints
under pressure, or protection during fast impacts. But some of these tools fall
into a grey area, somewhere between normal equipment and performance-enhancing
gear, which raises questions about how sports should decide what is fair and what is not.