The pioneers of the cricket helmet often had one thing in mind when they debuted their homemade headgear at the crease – the West Indies.

The West Indies’ storied pace attack has proven the catalyst for many milestones in the invention, development and implementation of the helmet from the 1930s until today.

It was British batsman Patsy Hendren who was the first to walk to the middle wearing protective head gear in 1933.

The three-peaked hat, designed by his wife, had rubber padding which wrapped around his head and over his temples to protect him from bouncers and short balls from a West Indies attack that had grown fond of British Bodyline tactics.

But while Hendren was the first pioneer of the helmet, it took the rest of the cricket world more than 40 years to catch up.

And again, it was fear of the West Indies’ pace attack – including the likes of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft – which instigated the change.

Englishmen Dennis Amiss was mercilessly teased by Australian crowds when he debuted his customised fibre-glass motorcycle helmet during World Series Cricket (WSC) in 1977.

“When World Series Cricket began I knew that I would be facing a lot of Australian and West Indies bowlers who would be delivering the ball at 90mph (145kmh),” Amiss told The Telegraph in 2005.

“I went to a motorcycle helmet manufacturer, and he came up with something lighter than the fibreglass motorcycle helmets around in those days and had a visor that could withstand a shotgun blast at 10 yards.”

The visor was a notable inclusion to his design, stopping a delivery from South Australian paceman Wayne Prior from knocking out his teeth.

From there, the momentum began to shift.

By the end of WSC, prominent players such as Tony Greig, David Hookes and Zaheer Abbas were donning helmets and uit became only a matter of time before they made an appearance in Test cricket.

It was Australian Graham Yallop who became the first – at Bridgetown, Barbados in 1978.

In an tour match earlier in the campaign, Yallop copped a short ball to the jaw which became a defining moment for him and many players during that period.

They would rather face taunting from the crowd than a pace bowling attack without a helmet.

From then on the helmet gained popularity throughout the cricketing world as designs were continually refined to increase protection, and comfort for players.

What once was the target of ribbing, has since become what former Australian opener Matthew Hayden called one of the biggest innovations in the sport.

“The helmet was one of the greatest assets that a cricketer can have,” Hayden told Triple M on Wednesday.