Why I Dug Into Cricket Gloves
Got absolutely roasted last match behind the stumps. Dropped two catches and fumbled every bloody take when the bowler went wide. My palms looked like I’d wrestled a cheese grater. Realized my decade-old gloves were basically oven mitts with zero padding left. Time for an upgrade.
Picking New Gloves – Chaos at the Shop
Went to the cricket store thinking it’d be simple. Wrong. Shelves packed with:
- Cheapo rubber ones feeling like washing-up gloves
- Premium kangaroo leather costing my whole match fee
- Hybrid plastic-leather things looking like sci-fi props
The shopkeeper kept saying “trust the process” while shoving different pairs at me. Tried flexing the palms – some cracked like stale bread. Others were so stiff I couldn’t even make a fist.
The Testing Disaster
Grabbed three mid-range options for backyard testing:
- Pair A: Felt like marshmallows but slid around my knuckles
- Pair B: Gripped like superglue but gave me instant blisters
- Pair C: Weighed a ton – like catching with bricks tied to my hands
Made my teenager fire tennis balls at me. With Pair B, I actually caught stuff… till the velcro snapped during a dive. Found the fastener dangling like a dead fish.
How I Landed “The Ones”
Went back defeated. Shopkeeper smirked “Want the kangaroos now?” Instead, spotted some discontinued gloves in clearance bin. Fit checklist:
- Smashed fist test – fingers could curl naturally
- Wrist flap yank test – velcro didn’t peel off
- Fingertip squeeze test – padding actually existed where my bruises were
Didn’t even care they were safety-orange. Paid less than my post-match beers.
Actual Match Results
First game looked ridiculous but saved us 32 runs:
- Didn’t drop a single leg-side take (miracle)
- Stopped caring about fast bowlers’ deliveries
- Weird bonus: Opponents kept staring at the neon gloves mid-bowl
Still got chirped for looking like a traffic cone. Told ’em my gloves cost less than their dropped catches.
Moral? Your fancy gear’s worthless if it makes you catch like a cooked spaghetti. Sometimes the ugliest gloves save your wicketkeeping arse.
