Sam Billings was not allowed to wear his new gloves against New Zealand

The gloves, made from recycled cricket equipment, were deemed illegal

He had to send for a pair of white gloves from a cricket retailer in Christchurch

The ICC have banned England’s Twenty20 vice-captain Sam Billings from wearing his new eco-friendly batting gloves because they contravene an obscure colour-related kit regulation.

Billings was told by ICC match referee Andy Pycroft before Friday’s series opener against New Zealand in Christchurch that the Gray-Nicolls gloves – known as ‘Off-Cuts’ because they are made from recycled cricket equipment, including sweatbands, padding and leather – were illegal.

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The problem arose because regulations state that more than 50 per cent of any batting glove worn in a limited-overs international ‘must be white, or the same colour as the base colour of the relevant team’s playing shirt’.

Sam Billings has been banned from wearing his bright-coloured eco-friendly gloves

England’s T20 shirt is predominantly red, while the fingers of Billings’s new gloves are lime green, maroon, sky blue and dark blue.

He wore them during the two warm-up games against a New Zealand Cricket XI in Lincoln, and intends to do so again at the T10 competition in the UAE starting later this month – a tournament not governed by the ICC.

The gloves were launched only a week ago, when Billings himself led the praise: ‘It’s a great initiative,’ he said. ‘I think the world generally now is trying to get far cleaner and recycle far more. I love the fancy colours, and the great thing about it is the quality is the same as any other product – and it looks incredible.’

Instead, he had to send for a pair of white gloves from a cricket retailer in Christchurch, which he wore while helping Eoin Morgan get England over the line by seven wickets.

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The second game starts in Wellington on Sunday at 2pm local time.

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