Batting Glove Styles Explained
Valued Customers,
The vast majority of batting gloves that we sell at the Greg Chappell Cricket Centre fit into three categories. Below you will find a quick rundown on both sausage finger, multi-piece and hybrid designs.
1. Sausage Finger
First up is the sausage finger, generally speaking this design provides more protection than its multi-piece counterpart thanks to its use of large and uninterrupted padding on each finger. The most important result of this style of construction is the lack of any gaps when the hand is wrapped around a cricket bat handle. As a result most Test Cricketers choose this style of glove in order to give them the best change of staying uninjured against the fastest bowlers in the world. Like everything in cricket this design comes with drawbacks, in this case some flexibly and comfort needs to be sacrificed in order for protection. The best way to get around these compromises is to choose a glove which uses high quality materials and features a 'soft fill' lining which provides cushioning between they players hand and the padding on the gloves.
Below is an example a traditional sausage finger glove
Variations of the sausage finger:
Split - Kookaburra Kahuna Pro 800
These sausage finger gloves have a single split running across the knuckle giving them a big bump in flexibility
Split V - GN Ultimate
V Splits over the knuckles provide the look of a sausage finger glove but in a multi-piece design (see below) as the V split exposes less area then the hand is wrapped around the bat handle. Protection levels in V split gloves are very close to sausage finger gloves but the complexity of the stitching can make them more expensive
2. Multi-Piece
Since the mid 90's the multi-piece glove has risen to popularity and become the most common style of glove sold at the Greg Chappell Cricket Centre. The main advantage of this style is flexibility as small protective pieces are used around the joints in the hand creating a very natural feel. Most cricketers love these gloves because the these days they profile almost as much protection as a sausage finger but are more comfortable and quicker to wear in.
Below is an example of a traditional multi-piece glove
Variations of the multi-piece
Block Foam - PUMA PULSE
Rounded Foam - PUMA PLATINUM
3. Hybrid
Some gloves mix both multi-piece and sausage finger designs, usually it means that the leading two fingers are sausage while the others remain multi-piece. The advantage of this type of glove is that the leading fingers, or the fingers in the most dangerous position get more protection.
Yours in cricket,
The Greg Chappell Cricket Centre