In Gear This Week, reviews editor Ed Kemp tries out a dangerously protective set of pads.
‘Great White’ Shark Batting Pads
RRP £50.00
Batting pads, not unlike batting gloves (reviewed recently in this feature) are about two things really: comfort and protection.
There are plenty of options out there, but recently we took the chance to have a go with the top-of-the-range offerings by Shark Cricket, one of the growing boutique manufacturers that make up such a large part of the market these days. These ‘Great White’ pads are £50, while Shark’s other efforts – the ‘Tiger’ and ‘Hammerhead’ are £40 and £30, respectively. Whatever the merits of the other pads, all we can say of these ones is: we like them.
Often a brand new pair can feel a bit stiff and uncomfortable, but that wasn’t the case with these: they seemed to shape around the leg quite nicely, flexible enough and the inside of them is nicely cushioned, as you’d wish.
But there’s little compromise on protection: they’re very firm on the outside, with a good quality soft leather and double cover on the knee roll. The inside of the knee is attached to the outer pad with stitching at the sides, but with Velcro in the middle, enabling you to slightly adjust the height of the knee pad to perfectly suit your height and leg length. But that inside knee section is also concave to fit the knee, with an extra, hard layer of inbuilt protection. Hopefully you’d feel confident getting on the front foot to a quick nipping it back whilst wearing these – a rap on the knee should only bring pain if you end up being given lbw.
On the inside, down the middle, the finish is leather – unlike on other leg guards , which are often all fabric against the shin – which does give a nice look and you’d hope would mean they last pretty well. Although I’m not sure how leather reacts to the quantities of sweat generated during a really long innings.
Fortunately, for many of us here at least, that’s not proved too much of a problem in recent seasons, anyway.
Click here for our Competition of the Week, in which you can wear a pair of Slazenger Ultimate Batting Gloves, as worn by Paul Collingwood.
