All the gear……you know the rest.

 

While we all wallow at home listening to statistics about how the start of 2026 has had the most rainfall, least sunlight and suffered from a stuck weather pattern it is hard to believe the cricket season of 2026 will ever come. But like every year summer does come at some point, weather it will get into full swing in early March likes in 2026 is a very different story.

This month I wanted to look at a number of topics regarding kit; there have been two points of interest and another subject I have been wanting to write about for a while.

 

Cricket Boots

There has always been the historic rivalry between batters and bowlers in cricket right back to the idea of gentlemen batters and “professional” bowlers. There is one part of cricket kit where this divide is still as evident as it ever was and, in my opinion, even more so.

Custom cricket boots are just no longer available in the UK, there are 100’s of custom bat makers up and down the country offering all sorts of bespoke services taking your measurements; heigh, weight and shape all calibrated at a price. We all talk about the price of new cricket bats but at least you can order a custom made one if you so wish.

I do own a pair of custom-made boots, made by the famous Ian Mason, a man who from his home in Streetly in the West Midlands made boots for all the famous bowlers. Check out the cover of “Sticky Dogs and Stardust” you see “White Lightening” himself waring them.

I was lucky enough to see Ian right before his retirement his house a treasure trove of cricket memorabilia, moulds of famous bowlers’ feet and while there I was able to listen to some fabulous stories such as Shoaib turning up with a money clip of £50 notes in his Ferrari full entourage in tow. Ian has now retired from this and with him goes the UK’s last specialist boot maker. But why do custom bats survive despite a world of big brands and mass production, but the world of cricket boots is now just bigger brands.

Cost

We all know how much cricket bats cost seeing 4 figures on price tags is now not unusual, custom bat makers, although still getting more expensive can provide these bespoke services for similar prices if not less. People can come back for replacements and repairs when necessary. In the world of boots, the intricacy and design of boots is so detailed this means that brands will always come out cheaper. Overall, my cricket boots cost around £500 for the mould and them being made to my specific requirements. This outlay seems a lot in comparison to how bats work. But I if anything, wish I had done it earlier my boots are into their 7^th season which is more than any shop bought ones, also because they are handmade, they can be hand repaired. A local clobbers and shoe repair shop near me is thrilled to see them each winter to sort out patches, repairs and various tweaks that are needed, but one thing they are not is cheaper than shop brands, but it is a long-term investment. I wish I had made this correlation earlier instead of years of broken boots or spiked up trainers which were made for a much less arduous sport than fast bowling (basketball).

 

 

Sponsorship and Brands

This came from my visit to see Ian when I got my boots, I have heard several people in club cricket say things like “well yeah they are sponsored by Adidas but his bat is made by the guy in our village”. Local cricket bat brands is a small group of people hidden behind the bigger companies, but sports shoes are mostly larger multinational ever present brands, using the same example as Adidas something you might well know and trust in your everyday life. It is certainly hard to break into the mass produced world, without closer inspection a factory made bat doesn’t look much different to a hand made one but hand made boots look very different I get a lot of comments along the lines of “how old are those boots” they are not old but hand made and therefore look old fashioned.

Future

Well, you could say this section is pointless, there is no future Ian has retired there are no current bespoke boot makers in the UK. Several companies offer the trainer spiking service which I used before I went to Ian but no full-time cobblers making shoes.

But in the fashion world hand made and durable clothes that last is an industry promoted by the likes of Patrick Grant from BBC’s Sewing Bee. I own walking boots made in Italy and other causal “city” boots from a Finnish Company with it’s manufacturing base in Portugal. I doubt though anyone who had made either pair of these shoes I’ve mentioned have any idea of cricket but certainly there are massive similarities between by boots from Fracap (not a plug by the way) and Ian’s famous creations. This is notable in the one piece of leather and rounded toe shape, you would think that a company like this could do it but why would they it’s unlikely to have much mass market appeal. Some UK manufactures could do this maybe (Lanx in Manchester or William Lennon and Co near me in Derbyshire) remember when Woodworm Teamed up with Base shoes? Worn by players in the 2005 Ashes. But even in the suggestion above you would need to go to a shop or warehouse and get your feet measured. If you are a cobbler and need a new specialism for yourself then why not give it a go maybe we need a talent show for cobblers, pun name suggestions welcome.

 

Helmets and Neck Guards

I noted in a message via the ECB recently there was a directive that read as such “all cricketers are strongly advised to wear neck protectors at all times that they are required or recommended to wear helmets” now those of you that have read my first article about concussion know I have had a lot of thoughts on this subject since that event. I can see what the ECB are saying here but without anything mandated then this recommendation to me seems a bit pointless. I think helmets will become ubiquitous, it came in when I first played cricket this means that it is 25 years plus and millennials who have played since that time have mostly worn one ever since. If neck protectors are required then the ECB need to mandate that new helmets cannot be sold without them and, they should in their various kit packages available to clubs, school and community groups provide detachable ones to retrofit older helmets. The statement feels very much a passing of the buck should something terrible happen. I certainly would like to see ECB Premier Leagues have the same rules as first class cricket, lower down the levels this becomes harder but as I said I think it will become naturally less of an issue as players who played in the non-helmet period retire from the game or only play seniors cricket. I just thought this ECB directive was somewhat feeble whereas I believe in Australia the message has been a lot more forceful on this subject.

 

Laminated Bats

Finally, nobody has been able to escape the “hype” of the new MCC changes to the Laws of Cricket. The allowing of laminated bats was a massive deal and is said to revolutionise bats in the future especially in the recreational games. The long and short of it is cricket uses a lot of willow and English Williow is very sought after in the world, growing demand for cricket bats in other countries in Europe for example coupled with Indian middle classes wanting English “premium” brands has lead to prices going up and up, you throw in some climate change and other supply chain issues and prices are eyewatering for top end pro player standard bats. A bat where two pieces of wood are stuck together to make a bat out of off cuts and scraps helps manufactures but bringing prices down? I am not so sure. From my questions a few colleagues who more in are the know than me they predict more middle to lower end bats being better than previous. Examples are sticking a good but heavy piece of willow to a much lighter piece to create a good-looking bat face or two off cuts with a liberal use of glue creating some internal spring that the lower grade willow might not have had.

The oxymoron with bats is that if you want top end bats endorsed or used by pros you end up paying the most money but for a low-density bat that hardly lasts more than a signal season (remember the boots stuff above). So therefore, sticking a harder/heavy/dense piece on the front might hold up a lot more and even if your price doesn’t go down the longevity might be improved.

One thing that people in the know have given me is that this has been going on for years, recreational cricket might have a few rigorous umpires with the new bat gauge at your Saturday game but they are not bring a saw and cut your bat in half to see if there is some rubber mixed into that glue sticking to 2 or 3 pieces together.

But any additional “spring” in club cricket doesn’t mean anything yes maybe 1 out of 4 massive swipes goes to the boundary instead of 1 out of 6 but, it’s not going to stop your head going up and your stumps being taken by your local moon ball bowler.

This all sounds like a good idea to me using more of the willow tree and being more sustainable also as a regulator in “real” life I like the idea of making something legal instead of it being in the shadows as it currently is, the laws can be changed in future to allow for people who take liberties.

Finally, I was informed about a new material that could be used on it’s own or maybe in combination with a piece of “real” willow is the idea of pressing and moulding willow “flour” into bats. So much wood is wasted in the bat making process and there is a project at Stretton Fox looking to make bats using this material in future  it might be interesting idea along with the likes of Village Cricket Company using higher grade Kashmir Willow I think there is a way maybe club cricket can go back towards longevity instead of the increasing costs and lower longevity double whammy we have at the moment.

 

A bit of a jump around this month between several things but all focused around the future of cricket kit for us recreational players. Pros don’t have to worry about the same things as us and I think there should be more divergence sports like golf or tennis offering recreational players equipment that would be banned in pro competition because it cheaper and makes the game easier I do think cricket needs to do this a lot more to be sustainable from a cost and an environmental perspective.

See you all in what’s going to be a sunny March.