Hair transplants are increasingly popular among men for whom losing hair is an unwelcome development and want an alternative to either going bald or going for a wig. This may be especially so for those who are regularly in the public eye.
Sportsmen who get plenty of attention out on the field are those who spend the longest on it, up to five days at a time. There has been a growing number of well-known cricketers for whom a trip to a London hair loss clinic or an equivalent facility in their own city or country has given them a revived head of hair.
Hair Transplant Delhi names former England captains Michael Vaughan and Graham Gooch among them. Others include Indians like Sourav Ganguly, Vireder Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, Pakistan’s Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, South African Jacques Kallis, the late New Zealand legend Martin Crowe and two Australians, the late, great Shane Warne and Doug Bollinger.
Many of these operations will have brought welcome relief for the recipients. Warne was forever concerned with his appearance, having once failed a drug test by using his mother’s diuretic pill to reduce his double chin before a press conference. Bollinger was doubtless glad to shed his toupee and with it the ‘Doug the Rug’ nickname.
This list is, of course, far from exhaustive. It missed out Darren Gough, the former England fast bowler who is now head coach at his native Yorkshire. Gough has been very open about his hair transplant and has even been an ambassador for the clinic that did it.
With the start of the new English cricket season just days away, spectators braving the chilly early April weather will see plenty of players out there with something less than a full head of hair, no doubt protected by their caps from the worst effects of the cold breeze.
However, they should not be surprised if they also see players who seem to suddenly have a remarkably hairier head than last year.