Topic: Blenheim Batting Pads & Gloves Review - With Pics (Read 2080 times)

SaadIjaz · « **on:** September 17, 2012, 02:04:12 PM »

Firstly Apologies for the delay in getting this review out, it's been over a week since I opted out to go for the End of Season Sale Gus had put up on the Blenheim Cricket Batting Pads and Gloves. I promised Gus I would post a review on CBF once the gear arrives. To save space and keep this organised, I will post 2 reviews here - One for the Pads and other for Gloves. Before I do start the review, I just want to say Gus was absolutely fantastic to deal with, not only was he willing to drop me a small discount for multi item purchases, but also delivered the item through secure post and arrived within 48 hours all well packed!

Lets start with the Pads - These arrived through the post all neatly packed in this little surprise package:

Look and Feel
From the moment you take the pads out of it's smart little netted bag, you know your holding a quality piece of cricket gear. The pads are neatly finished with comfortable straps at the back decently sized. Slightly longer straps than usual pads, but that maybe down to my skinny legs. The pads feel exceptionally light, they are after all traditionally designed and you may expect these style pads to weigh a little more but I was really surprised by the weight. I even took it out in the garden to run some sprints to feel how it would feel in a match situation and ran comfortably. They fitted me like a dream as I am slightly shorter, so for our bigger lads on the forum might be worth trying the OSM sized pads if you plan on investing.

Quality
The Blenheim Cricket Brand oozes quality, not just from their Logo, Website, Name and background but now also from their products as I can bear witness. The pads have ultra-comfortable interior, with mesh side panels for ventilation and the knee locator support is fantastic. You can really fell your knees lock into place when wearing them, but most important aspect is the stitching quality of these pads. They are made in India and it shows just how much care and attention has gone into producing these top quality pads. With high quality leather being used in most of the interior areas, including the top hat - you really feel you�re wearing a durable and quality product.

Price
The pads are priced at �78 a pair, not cheap by any means, considering top of the range Puma or GN pads are available for less than �75, but you need to remember you are buying a niche brand who does not mass produce their gear in 6 figure numbers and sells at a competitive price. Although, I got these on the End Of Season Sale offer, so probably ended up paying around �58 for these.

Protection
The most important aspect of cricket Pads or Gloves are the protection standard and quality of it. I can assure you these will match the protection standards of any other brand out there. The Pads are built with Traditional 7 Canes inserted in the front - When worn, you can feel the immense protection around your shins and knees added with the excellent fit they provide you feel flexible and agile in your leg movement too.

SaadIjaz · « **Reply #1 on:** September 17, 2012, 02:05:23 PM »

Now the review for my favourite part of the kit... The Gloves! I decided I will buy this kit from Blenheim and keep it stored till next season since the season has nearly come to an end and wouldn�t make sense taking these out all so early.. So in my kit order I added a spare set of gloves.. Therefore I got 2 pairs of left Handed Gloves

They come in this neat little Blenheim branded bag, which is very important to me as I like to keep my gloves in these bags and then thrown into my kit bag, rather than keeping the gloves out.

Look and Feel
The first thing I did was to put the gloves on.. And instantly, they felt comfortable and soft.. Just how a pair of gloves should feel.. I opted to order the Shark Tooth style designed ones, as I am not a fan of the traditional Sausage style fingered ones.. I can only compare these gloves to the other pair I have for sale at the moment, the Salix Pod Black Gloves.. The interior of the gloves is towelled and the thumb on the bottom hand has quite a chunky foam protecting your thumbnail.. Something I haven't seen in many other gloves..

Quality
The main talking point... The Palms.. Yes These feature the Forum Favourites: Pittard Leather Palms.. Ahh I finally experienced for myself what exactly the big deal was with Pittard Palms.. For one, they feel very soft and durable.. an secondly they are quite stretchy so those with slightly bigger hands will feel comfortable wearing these..

As mentioned with the Pads, Blenheim do produce exceptional quality stuff.. The only slight complain I will have on these gloves was that the stitching was not as high quality as the batting pads had.. In fact, the towelled wrists had quite a bit of loose threading which when I pulled ended up causing a huge indent into the wrists.. Not a major concern though, something I can surely bear with but I do hope the gloves can go a long way with over a season's worth of use without any major issues..

In terms of quality of design and feel, the gloves are just as good as any other on the market.. it also feels exceptionally comfortable, and I tested these with a heavy bat (round handle) for a couple of throwdowns and the grip and feel is just fine..

Price
They are on offer at the moment for �38 if bought without the pads which I think is an absolutely cracking deal! Hence why I bought 2 instead of just one, I think these are priced too good for it's value and quality.

Protection
Once more as mentioned with the Pads, the protection on these gloves is immense! You really do feel your in Safe Hands when wearing these. The Index Fingers on both hands have Super tough exterior materials inserted below the leather covering, and the rest of the glove is very well padded. The size and fit is also superb for me, but once again I have slightly smaller Hands, I do believe they make OSM sized gloves too.. But as mentioned the Pittard Palms are quite stretchy and will accommodate slightly bigger hands than mine too. I would recommend these gloves and pads to anyone playing any standard of cricket.

Six Sixes Cricket · « **Reply #2 on:** September 17, 2012, 02:17:58 PM »

Nice review and both pads n gloves ooze class.

Cover_Drive · « **Reply #3 on:** September 17, 2012, 02:53:50 PM »

Lovely review, really enjoyed reading the whole review.

I'm a soft freak, I really like softs for some reasons and I must say that these Blenheim softs look impressive. They are simply very classy softs, I prefer classy look than wacky, tacky etc and these seem to be up there.

Author Topic: Blenheim Batting Pads & Gloves Review - With Pics (Read 2080 times)

SaadIjaz

Blenheim Batting Pads & Gloves Review - With Pics

SaadIjaz

Re: Blenheim Batting Pads & Gloves Review - With Pics

Six Sixes Cricket

Re: Blenheim Batting Pads & Gloves Review - With Pics

Cover_Drive

Re: Blenheim Batting Pads & Gloves Review - With Pics