WWC 2017: Why was Deandra Dottin wearing a facial mask?

West Indies allrounder Deandra Dottin turned up with the protective facial mask on Monday in their opening game of Women’s World Cup 2017 against Australia at Taunton. This wasn’t the first time Dottin wore a facial mask but the WWC, which is attracting quantifiable viewership across various formats had the fans thinking, why was she wearing the mask.

So, the reason she has to wear the facial protection is that she suffered multiple fractures on her cheekbone during a match in the 2nd edition of Women’s Big Bash League earlier this year. Representing the Brisbane Heat against Melbourne Stars in a league game at the Allan Border Field, Dottin collided with Laura Harris at the boundary line in order to stop the ball from going past the fence.

In this process, Dottin ended up landing awkwardly with her face hitting one of the kit bags placed beyond the boundary. After this accident, the West Indies’ all-rounder was taken off the field with help of a stretcher. She underwent a surgery with insertion of titanium plates and screws to get the fractures repaired and returned to feature in the later stages of the WBBL in less than 4 weeks of suffering the injury.

Recovery

She now needed to take the field with a protective mask in that game which is an essential part of her recovery from that blow. The mask is required to save her titanium reinforced cheek bone which is still recovering from the surgery. According to Dottin, this mask doesn’t make her any uncomfortable however, it makes her sweat a lot.

Dottin is well known for her destructive batting in Women’s Cricket and holds the record for the fastest century that she scored off just 38 balls in a T20I game; the first ever century in Women’s T20I. During the game against Australia, Dotting struck a quick 29 off 20 balls with 6 boundaries before she was cleaned up by Ellyse Perry.