Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Pads => Topic started by: procricket on October 08, 2012, 06:37:22 PM
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Bit sad I guess but what pads are most iconic to you
For me there 1
GN test opener
Without doubt the best pads of any era and the air cushion principle and everybody who was anybody wore them
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Gray Nicolls Legend hands down! :D
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No brainier. Morrant s Ultralites. Been used since Sunil Gavaskars day. And still going strong. The most revolutionary design for me. Still nothing close to them IMO.
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I loved the DF ones that Hick and Botham used in the late 80's early 90's. They were I think the first PU faced pads without canes so each section was flat. Also first with velcro fastening i think ? Not explaining that very well but hope you know what I mean !! I had a pair when I was 13 !!
The old DF buckskin pads were great as well. That must have been mid late 80's.
I hated it when Gooch left DF and went to SS and he used those funny looking SS pads !!
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I'm with the Morrant Ultralites
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DF Magnums weren't they. Was desperate for a pair when I was a kid, but could only afford the canvas version!
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I loved the DF ones that Hick and Botham used in the late 80's early 90's. They were I think the first PU faced pads without canes so each section was flat. Also first with velcro fastening i think ? Not explaining that very well but hope you know what I mean !! I had a pair when I was 13 !!
The old DF buckskin pads were great as well. That must have been mid late 80's.
I hated it when Gooch left DF and went to SS and he used those funny looking SS pads !!
I remember the magnum with green trim and velco doubt hats as well
Then they made a le version exactly the same but red 405 hick
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Anybody remember woodfords
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This is nice and easy - pads it has to be the Morrant Ultralite International pads!
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Another vote for the Morrants for me.
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Nobody in England has even herd of morrants bar this forum but I agree they are iconic
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I remember the magnum with green trim and velco doubt hats as well
Then they made a le version exactly the same but red 405 hick
That's them Dave. Magnum. Had a pair as a teenager and thought I was the dogs with them. I had the magnum gloves as well with the big green double finger protection.
Anyone find any pics of them ?
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They aren't batting pads but these are pretty iconic!!
(http://www.images99.com/i99/02/37672/37672.jpg)
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http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/story/367336.html
Pads hick magnums
Also they where the first to invest in a back pad on the top strap
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Puma Flextech for me!
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(http://blog.thecricketer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Curtis.jpg)
Tim Curtis in 1989 (I think)...
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DF Green Trim Pads, as worn by Botham when aussie bashing:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YKJf2OG2JY&feature=player_detailpage
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And the bats name is iconic e used there
Attack with
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Anybody remember woodfords
Yes, popular in the late 80s. A few shops in the North East, Sports Pack and Just Sport sold them as did Romida. I didn't have any of their pads, but I had a pair of the early plastazote gloves that looked just like the DF magnum gloves
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That's them Dave. Magnum. Had a pair as a teenager and thought I was the dogs with them. I had the magnum gloves as well with the big green double finger protection.
Anyone find any pics of them ?
The magnum gloves were early plastazote gloves, not the more traditional design with the green double finger protection
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Yes, popular in the late 80s. A few shops in the North East, Sports Pack and Just Sport sold them as did Romida. I didn't have any of their pads, but I had a pair of the early plastazote gloves that looked just like the DF magnum gloves
I had a pair of them in the early 90's - used to be sold down here in Bristol. They were a really good pair of pads, and lasted about 5 seasons before I passed them on...
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I think one of the most Iconic types of pads is the traditional cane and material pad with leather straps and buckles. Lets be honest, they are what can still be found in most club kitbags...
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I'm going with the Morrants too - anyone remember their microlite bat?
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Guess I'm showing my age here, but does anyone else remember Arcass pads and gloves? Chris Broad wore them in the 86/87 Ashes - they were iconic!
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I remember the Arcass pads and gloves
they were were early 80s; Glenn Turner and Dennis Amiss were the main early users, although both Broad and Andy Lloyd used them in 84 against the Windies
I eventually found a pair of the batting gloves in the late 80s in a remnants bin at 3D
They were named after A Rodney Cass
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I remember him wearing some modern looking pads back in the 80's. Trying to find a pic. Even bloody google get's Stuart and Chris confused, all I'm getting is pics of Stuart lol
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One more vote for Morrants. :)
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Morrants :).
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First ones with Velcro straps, a guy at my club still wears pads with buckles!
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I've still got some Slazenger buckskins with buckles.
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This is Chris Broad batting using full DF Magnum kit; bat, gloves and pads
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/image/226975.html
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Definitely Morrants for most iconic.
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This is Chris Broad batting using full DF Magnum kit; bat, gloves and pads
[url]http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/image/226975.html[/url]
Oh...! I remember one of my mates having those and absolutely loving them :(
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Any English cricketers using/ used Morrants ?.
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Any English cricketers using/ used Morrants ?.
Graham Gooch used them in 78 and Graham Roope used the Slazenger version in 77. Lots of English keepers used the keeping versions.
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Any English cricketers using/ used Morrants ?.
I could be wrong, but Edrich looked like he was wearing them in the "Grovel" series?
This picture suggests so:
(http://www.sporting-heroes.net/content/thumbnails/00013/01216-zoom.jpg)
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I could be wrong, but Edrich looked like he was wearing them in the "Grovel" series?
This picture suggests so:
([url]http://www.sporting-heroes.net/content/thumbnails/00013/01216-zoom.jpg[/url])
They very much look like the Morrant pads, but that's not an England sweater; more likely to be a Surrey one
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I could be wrong, but Edrich looked like he was wearing them in the "Grovel" series?
This picture suggests so:
([url]http://www.sporting-heroes.net/content/thumbnails/00013/01216-zoom.jpg[/url])
Wish they bought back the buckle and leather strap.
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They very much look like the Morrant pads, but that's not an England sweater; more likely to be a Surrey one
I know that is a county game, but I went searching for photo evidence because I have seen a pic in a book where Edrich is knocked on his (No Swearing Please) by a Windies bowler and is given out LBW.
I remember the pads looked funny at the time and now that I know what Morrants look like, he was definitely wearing them at around that time as this photo confirms.
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http://www.sporting-heroes.net/cricket/england/graham-gooch-2042/test-record-v-new-zealand_a01353/
Gooch wearing them in 1978.
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http://www.sporting-heroes.net/cricket/england/graham-roope-2046/test-profile-1973-78_a01951/
Roope wearing them.
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Tendulkar and Vijay wearing them.
http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article824875.ece
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Gavaskar!
(http://thereversesweep.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a735b61b970b01310fafe55a970c-pi)
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Fantastic pictures guys. Great finds.
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They're fantastic Vic.
Top research, mate.
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if you mean 'iconic' in the proper sense, it has to be morrant ultralites.
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They're fantastic Vic.
Top research, mate.
Thanks Alvy.
What I was trying to ascertain was that despite the fact that the common school of thought believes that the genesis of the super light pads is a sub continental phenomena, in actual fact, as these photos prove, superlight pads had a greater take up amongst English test batsmen in the 1970's (three), versus only one Indian test batsman.
Hence, the superlight pad was born in England, NOT in India as first thought.
So why did they take off in India and not in England?
Simple answer really, the Indians attach a great "star factor" to their best batsmen than do the English cricket supporting public.
Gavaskar is considered a GOD in India and he passed on a pair of Morrants to Sachin Tendulkar who is also considered a GOD - so the poularity of the superlight pad, much like one day cricket and T20 cricket (2 other English inventions) EXPLODED in India.
The fact that Edrich was at the end of his test career, Roope never sustained a test career and Gooch wore them in the early part of his career, before he became a star meant that the Morrant pads never had the platform to take off in the UK market as they would have had they been worn by a Gower or a Botham circa 1981.
The other factor is that Dilip Jajeda the owner of Morrants refuses to pay a licensing fee to the ICC which means that any player wearing his pads cannot display the Morrant logo.
Murali Vijay had to stick tape over the Morrant logo on his pads whilst out on the pitch during his maiden test century narrowly avoiding being fined - all because Morrant refuse to pay the licensing fee.
Vijay no longer wears Morrants after that experience - and I cannot help but wonder that Morrants themselves have stifled their own growth.
One thing is for sure - Morrants have revolutionised the batting pad - even if most cricketers do not even realise it.
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The story behind Morrant pads is even amazing.
The Amazing Story of the Morrant Ultralite Cricket Pad
In searching the cricket world for the absolutely best cricket gear available Middlepeg has come across a quite a few classic cricket yarns. The Morrant Ultralite Pad is one such story.
A long time ago we noticed and were always interested in a unique looking cricket pad that Sunil Gavaskar used to wear. Unique because they had a totally different look about them. Efforts to find out more about this cricket pad all lead to nothing and the "Sunil Gavaskar" cricket pad mystery ended up laying dormant for many years.
Dormant that is until a young batsman by the name Sachin Tendulkar came along and wore the same style of cricket pad. Efforts were once again made to find the source of this pad and this process was helped along by Zak Parker from the Wanneroo Cricket Club in Western Australia who informed us that the cricket pad was in fact made by Morrant sports who are based in the UK.
To finally discover the full story about this cricket pad Middlepeg recently had a meeting in the UK with the director and owner of Morrant sports Mr Dilip Jajodia. Our thanks must go out to Mr Jajodia for both his help and consideration during our time with him.
Though you could probably write a small book about this story here is an abridged version.
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The Morrant Ultralite cricket pad began its life back in the early 70's. A certain Mr Lewis of England had a lifelong passion to design a super light and supremely comfortable cricket pad.
Mr Lewis invested much time and money in designing this cricket pad but the procedure to make this pad took considerable time, money and the building of a very specially engineered press machine to press the main body of the pad.
A few samples of these cricket pads were made and tried and whilst there was huge demand from international cricketers for further samples to be made no bulk quantities of the cricket pad were made at that stage.
The cricketing companies of the world baulked at the cost of making this cricket pad as they could just continue with the current line of pads and make much greater margins. So Mr Lewis' dream of his super cricket pad gradually eroded and it laid dormant for almost 10 years… until the following.
Amazingly whilst casually looking around at an industrial fair in Germany no less, Mr. Dilip Jajodia came across what looked like a cricket pad. It was however painted "red" and uniquely shaped. Mr Jajodia asked the stallholder ( a specialised German industrial foam manufacturer ) about the pad and discovered that many years ago a Mr RH Lewis from England approached them because they were the only company in the world that could manufacture this super light highly specialised foam. Now this company had not even heard of cricket but they agreed to supply Mr Lewis with a small quantity of this foam for his dream cricket pad. - which in itself was unusual because this was a massive german industrial manufacturer that only and normally deal in very large quantities of foam.
After expressing his interest in this cricket pad the Germans gave Dilip a contact for this "Mr Lewis " in England but said their last contact with him was some 10 years ago so he was unlikely to still be at that address.
Now it's also worth mentioning at this stage that this German Manufacturer only displays that cricket pad to add a little colour to their industrial displays so the fact that it is even on display is amazing. On his return to England Diilp was fortunate to track down Mr Lewis and after much discussion the dream of his Ultralite cricket pad was reignited.
It turned out that the same German foam manufacturer were still the only ones able to supply the foam and eventually only supplied it as a favour to Mr Lewis because of his dealings with them some 10 years earlier.
To give you some insight into the production process of this cricket pad the foam as we know it comes from Germany. The special exterior and finish is made in Ireland and it is put together in England but all of this is only possible to do with the use of Mr Lewis' specially engineered press machine.
So the Ultralite dream was reignited and small numbers of the cricket pad were made with demand always outstripping supply ( as is still the case today ). Sunil Gavaskar and a host of other international cricketers used them and swore that they would never use anything else. Sunil also gave Sachin Tendulkar an old pair of his Ultralite cricket pads when Sachin was a school boy cricketer and ever since ( and despite massive offers ) Sachin has never worn anything else other than the Morrant Ultralite cricket pad (and Sachin is not paid to use the Ultralite Cricket Pads either).
All was going along well until one day Dilip received a phone call saying Mr Lewis had passed away and there was a letter for him. Dilip later discovered that Mr Lewis had left him the special engineering press machine and all rights to the Ultralite cricket pad to him because in Mr Lewis's words 'Dilip had ensured his dream came to fruition' .
Today Dilip is proud to be a part of this amazing story especially because one mans dream was fulfilled and is able to live forever.
Over the years Dilip has had offers from the biggest names in cricket to sell the rights to this machine needed to make the Ultralite cricket pad ( the only machine of it's kind in the world ) but all offers have fallen on deaf ears.
And today demand still outstrips supply due to the extensive process involved in the production and construction of the Morrant Ultralite cricket pad.
There is not a better and lighter cricket pad in the world full stop and whilst the pad does cost more than the average cricket pad Dilip rightly points out that this pad also lasts up to 4 times the average life of a cricket pad (indeed Gavaskar was said to have worn the same pair for many years). 'This pad has an extremely long lifespan… some of my customers are still using the same cricket pad after 8 years of regular use' Dilip has stated.
When we first picked up these cricket pads we literally could not believe how light they were. We have weighed virtually every pad in the world and nothing even comes close to the Morrant Ultralite cricket pad.
This cricket pad also has a special anti bounce foam construction which reduces the amount of ball rebound off the pad as well.
Today the cricket pad is worn by a host of international cricketers and the only reason it is not worn by every international is because of their contractual obligations with other companies. Today cricketers are paid substantial sums of money to use a companies range of equipment and whilst it is possible to change stickers on a bat it is impossible to do this with the Morrant Ultralite cricket pad (due to its very unique styling ).
http://www.middlepeg.com/ultralitecricketpads.htm#Amazing%20Story (http://www.middlepeg.com/ultralitecricketpads.htm#Amazing%20Story)
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WOW! That is a remarkable story, truly remarkable!
Never knew there was such history into Morrant pads, damn I'm tempted to buy a spare pair and store it because they will never get old.
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I think we can safely deduce, most iconic pads are Morrants Ultralites
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Arthur Shrewsbury's.