Night Lenses for Cricket

Cricket asks for a long day of good vision in changing light — picking up a ball at speed, then fielding into low sun for two hours, in heat, under a helmet. Every correction option has a specific failure mode. Glasses fog under a helmet grille and slide in the run-up. Day lenses dry out over a long spell in the wind and are hard to deal with at the fall of a wicket. Prescription sunglasses are expensive and are the pair most likely to be sat on.

What night lenses are

Night lenses — also called orthokeratology, ortho-k or overnight contact lenses — are rigid lenses worn only while you sleep. They gently reshape the front surface of the cornea overnight. You take them out in the morning and see clearly through the day with nothing in your eyes and nothing on your face. Nothing is cut and nothing is permanent: stop wearing them and the cornea returns to its own shape over days to a couple of weeks. Full detail, including cost and the safety rules, is on our orthokeratology page.

Why they suit cricket

Night lenses remove all three problems, because your vision is simply your own for the whole day.

• Batting: nothing on your face under the helmet, nothing to fog, and no frame edge where you need peripheral awareness.
• Bowling: nothing to slide in the run-up and nothing to dry out over a twelve-over spell.
• Fielding: wear any ordinary sunglasses you like, and choose them for tint and UV rather than for whether your prescription will fit in them. That matters in New Zealand — a summer of outdoor cricket is a serious cumulative UV dose.
• And afterwards: you can see the scoreboard, the car park and the drive home, with nothing to take out first.

What to expect

The fitting starts with corneal topography — a map of the surface of your eye — because the lens is designed from that map rather than from a guess. You wear trial lenses overnight and come in the next morning, ideally with the lenses still in, so we can see exactly how they sat. Vision usually improves over the first few nights and settles within one to two weeks, which is why we suggest starting in the off-season or well before a tournament rather than the week of it.

Timing your season. Night lenses settle over one to two weeks, so fit them pre-season rather than the week of a tournament. If you are travelling for cricket, take the lenses, solution and case with you — and never rinse anything in tap water on tour, wherever you are.

Cost

Two parts: the fitting and care programme ($1,100 for both eyes as a standard fit, $1,350 where a custom design is needed, $1,000 for a single eye) and the lenses themselves, currently $450 per lens and rising to $600. A standard both-eyes fit today is therefore $2,000. Lenses carry a six-month breakage warranty, extendable to twelve months with loss cover for $50 per lens — which most sporting families take. Lenses are usually replaced about once a year. The full breakdown, including the price rise, is on the orthokeratology page.

Junior cricketers. If a young player's prescription has increased season on season, night lenses are also one of the evidence-based options for slowing myopia progression. We measure axial length at every review so the family can see whether it is working — see myopia control or book the free myopia chat.

The water rule, which we do not bend. Night lenses are never rinsed or stored in tap water, tank water, bottled water, pool water or river water — only in the solution we prescribe — and they are out of the eyes before swimming, showering and spa pools. Acanthamoeba, the organism behind the most feared contact lens infection, lives in all of those. Our partner optometrist Jagrut Lallu is a co-author on a published case report of orthokeratology-related Acanthamoeba keratitis in a 13-year-old, so we would rather tell you about it plainly at the start than not at all. Nearly all of that risk is preventable with habits we can teach in a single appointment.

Is it right for you?

Night lenses work well for short-sightedness with up to a moderate amount of astigmatism. They are not for everyone: high prescriptions can sit outside the fitting range, significant irregular astigmatism is usually better served by a different specialty lens, active dry eye or lid disease needs treating first, and the nightly hygiene routine is not optional. We tell you which group you are in after the topography, not before it — and if a different option would serve you better, we will say so.

Related: night lenses for sport, and cricket sunglasses and vision if you would rather wear a prescription lens.

Optometrists for night lenses for cricket at Rose Optometry

You will be seen by one of seven therapeutically qualified optometrists — all University of Auckland graduates, all able to prescribe eye medication where it is needed, and all of whom examine patients from six weeks of age. Night lenses for cricket is part of their clinical practice.

• Jagrut Lallu — Partner Optometrist · BOptom (Hons), MSc Specialty Lenses (Hons), FIAOMC
• Jacqueline Rowe — Partner Optometrist · BSc, BOptom
• Emilie Lawson — BOptom (Hons) · Accredited Glaucoma Prescriber · ACO Certificate in Advanced Contact Lenses
• Jason Shen — BOptom (Hons)
• Jessica Wood — BOptom (Hons) · Clinical Research Optometrist, New Zealand Eye Research Centre
• Stella Wong — BOptom (Hons)
• Anjali Hira — BOptom (Hons)

Book a free night lens chat

The quickest way to find out whether night lenses suit your eyes and your sport is a free 15-minute chat. No cost, no obligation.

• New patient — book a comprehensive eye examination (45 minutes, includes imaging and full pretest), $129 for adults, $79 for children and school students.
• Already a Rose patient — book your eye examination here.
• Want to talk about night lenses first? — book a free 15-minute Ortho-K chat, no cost and no obligation.
• Ready to be fitted — new ortho-k / night lens fit (30 minutes).

Or call 07 847 3195, or get in touch. Rose Optometry, 38 Lake Road, Frankton, Hamilton. 07 847 3195

Reviewed by Jagrut Lallu — BOptom (Hons), MSc Specialty Lenses (Hons), FIAOMC, Therapeutic Optometrist & Contact Lens Specialist, Partner, Rose Optometry. Last reviewed 19 September 2026.