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Importance Of Batting Gloves And Wicket Keeping Gloves

Cricket is a popular sport in many countries but selecting the right type of accessories including padding, cricket gloves and helmets are essential to avert injuries as also to boost the batsman’s confidence. There are different types of cricket gloves needed for playing the game - cricket wicket keeping gloves, cricket batting gloves, batting inner gloves and cricket pad gloves.

All these gloves are equally important and each type of gloves serves a different purpose in the game. The cricket gloves must compulsorily be worn by the batsman during the game as they protect the hands and fingers against the hard hitting ball. Every ball, whether bowled by a spinner or a fast bowler has the same potential of injuring the fingers of the batsman/wicketkeeper. Cricket batting gloves usually offer double layer protection to the batsman and are designed as per certain internationally accepted standards.

The wicket keeping gloves are essential for the wicket keeper as he has to stand behind the wicket and often catch balls delivered by fast bowkers at perilous speeds. The wicket keeping gloves are specially made with the additional foam or PU padding and these gloves have strong and flexible webbing to grab the cricket ball which may oftentimes come menacingly to the wicket keeper. There is the webbing between the thumb and index fingers which helps the wicket keeper to catch the ball without injuring his hands and figers.

Cricket gloves must form an integral part of any cricketer’s kit. There are gloves for batting, wicket keeping and there are also left handed gloves because finger protection is needed for the other hand as well.

For different age groups, there are different sizes of cricket gloves - 16.5 cm, 17.5 cm, 19 cm, 21cm and 22.5 cm - available in sports goods shops for boys and men of different age groups.Selecting the right type size of cricket gloves is important for the batsman as well as for thewicket keeper.

When buying cricket gloves, you must ensure they are of the right size, comfortable to wear, and properly designed to protect the hand and fingers. The gloves you select should fit you properly and the thumbs should be comfortable and the fingers sufficiently long so as not to hurt you.

Some cricketers do not easily change their batting gloves and retain them for years for sentimental reasons. While cricketing gloves are widely available, sometimes left handed gloves may be difficult to find. You should buy good quality cricket gloves unmindful of the costs as these are meant to protect you from bruises. Besides, good quality cricket gloves will also last for several and you need not run around buying cricket gloves far too often. At best, you can choose to buy cricket gloves at end of the cricketing season or during pre- season time when there will be clearance and discount sales.

Many batsmen and wicket keepers opt wearing an extra thin pair of gloves called inners beneath their batting or wicket keeping gloves. This is primarily intended to absorb the sweat and perspiration. Many international cricket stars wear inners as batsmen find them helpful in gripping the bat more firmly and wicket keepers find inners useful for neatly collecting the ball behind the stumps.