Frisco ISD siblings invent cricket bail guard to prevent eye injuries

The Dallas Cricket League has required a Frisco-made cricket safety device for every 2026 match, putting a student invention in front of more than 6,500 registered players across North Texas. The Bail Guard was created by Anish Anup, a Liberty High School student, and his sister Aashi Anup of Vandeventer Middle School.

The siblings designed the device to address a hazard that cricket players know well: when a bail is knocked loose from a wicket, it can fly into the air like a projectile. Anish Anup, who has played as a wicketkeeper, noticed how often bails came close to players’ faces, and the idea took shape around one of the sport’s most serious injury examples, the eye injury that ended South African cricketer Mark Boucher’s international career.

Boucher’s injury came in a 2012 tour match against Somerset in Taunton, when a dislodged bail struck his left eye. He later underwent eye surgery and retired from international cricket. That kind of injury is rare, but it is severe enough that cricket’s governing structures have already moved to limit the danger. In April 2017, the Marylebone Cricket Club ratified the use of tethered bails, and the current Laws of Cricket allow devices intended to protect player safety by limiting how far a bail can travel off the stumps, provided the governing body for the match and the ground authority approve.

Bail Guard works by mounting a collar to the center stump and attaching flexible tethers to the bails, keeping them connected instead of letting them become uncontrolled flying objects. The design was released under Creative Commons, so anyone can manufacture and sell it rather than treating it as a private product.

Dallas Cricket League’s adoption gives the invention immediate local reach. The nonprofit league dates to 2003 and runs cricket throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area while partnering with cities and parks officials. Its website now includes an introduction to Bail Guard.