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[CricketBoy]

Extremely ugly, but quality is high
Would you wear them if say you won them as a prize ? (I would )

[art]

I see this post has been reactivated and I really do wonder if Aero would listen if I wrote to them. Folks who wear Aero pads seem happy with them but as an umpire (and player) I have a number of real problems with them.

1. Batsmen tend to get their gloves mixed up with the top of the pads rather frequently which causes some interesting problems.
2. The ball rebounds off the pads further than 'normal' equipment and in tight situations with close in fielders you have to start, as an umpire, making assumptions that put years of training out of the door. ( A frequent occurrance is the ball bouncing up off the pad and striking the glove on the way down where with other equipment the ball would have fallen to the ground).
3. There is no knee roll as such so judging height becomes a problem.
4. There are no 'stripes' on the front of the pad so judging line also becomes a problem when struck on the pad.

So for me it means even more concentration for a batsman who is wearing this equipment. For many umpires the finger goes up anyway.

[goldy_boy]

And look what happened to Woodworm when they tried signing huge players straight away

Well, they'd have been alright had they not splashed the amounts they did, maybe if they'd only had KP and Freddie they may have made it, but then again those two were worth A LOT of money. They're lucky they aren't completely gone now.

[Apple]

I think the main problem with the pads, are the LBW aspect,

how can the Umpire judge?

[bucko2007]

Maybe the umpire could use his eyes, instead of using silly rules of thumb like where is the knee roll etc...

[Apple]

but having a knee role is a very good judge of height

[art]

I note some of your comments about umpires bucko. Why should we retrain after many years of umpiring to fit in with one manufacturer?

Me, I have no problems but then again I do a lot of training, for what reason I am not sure, but more of that later, I am told umpiring is difficult, which is something I disagree with, but for those who follow this theory Aero have made it more difficult.

[bucko2007]

I just cannot see why, if umpires just watch the ball, they cannot judge the projected path of the ball correctly

[gramw]

I just cannot see why, if umpires just watch the ball, they cannot judge the projected path of the ball correctly

do you umpire bucko?

[art]

The simple answer to buck's problem is that if the batsman could hit the ball then LBW would not be in the equation. But hey to some people it is always the umpire's fault. Like the umpire caused me to miss the ball so there was an LBW shout.

Following the ball is simple but some of the so called 'techniques' taught by the 'experts' make it more difficult than it should be. But why would a batsman wear something than could cause a problem for the umpire in the first place?

If you work for Aero I do have a solution to this real problem but it surely has been thought of by others.

[bucko2007]

What?? What do you mean why would they make something to cause a problem for umpires? You think Aero thought that in the design? The knee roll is just part of the conventional design of pads, it doesn't really serve a great purpose. Aero have got rid of it to save weight etc... I hate the appearance of the pads, but it shouldn't make it harder for umpires.

"The simple answer to buck's problem is that if the batsman could hit the ball then LBW would not be in the equation. But hey to some people it is always the umpire's fault. Like the umpire caused me to miss the ball so there was an LBW shout."

What the hell are you talking about? That has nothing to do with why the umpire can't predict the path of the path of the ball. That's just general chat to avoid the point I made

[Apple]

I think if they just draw a line, acrosss the knee area problem solved

[art]

Pretty close Apple, pretty close to what is needed.

Well it does make it harder for the majority of umpires. Check the conventional training methods for judging LBW decisions and it will become immediately clear to you what the problem is.

[nickroe92]

I think Umpires are always right

[Apple]

whatever happened to art?