I received my toe guards from George today and have got some immediate thoughts, though I haven't yet netted with them and I have only tried them in my match boots and not in any trainers.
I actually started discussing toe guards with George over a couple of years ago, and as one would expect from someone like George, he remembered, and got in touch about his prototypes. I've broken my left big toe twice, both times in nets against yorkers. I could get better at batting or quit cricket, but instead, while I was waiting for these, I bought some steel toe cap trainers from Screwfix which have been working fine for bowling and batting in nets. But they're blue!
Initial thoughts on these:
1. the protection is fantastic - more than enough at my level, and better than anything currently available, short of steel toe caps.
2. Issues with fit should be evident from the photos - you can see that they fit on the ends of my toes, rather than over the whole of the "toe box".
- this creates an issue when squashed in an average boot, since typically i would imagine, boots do not have room to accommodate the toe guard
- where you can see my little toes on the edge of the guard, even not squashed in a boot, it digs in and can hurt
- squashed into the boot, the little toes on the outside edge, it hurts to stand and i imagine will hurt more to run
- as with anything squashed into the front of your boot - e.g. thicker socks vs thinner socks - your big toe ends up being squashed a little too
3. Ppl have mentioned and George himself has said that maybe a more pliable material would be better. My personal feeling is that it boils down to fit as much as the material.
- there is a video further up of someone showing us the guards in a mesh-material shoe - there is enough give in that material that fit isn't an issue - in my old leather boots, despite the leather having moulded to my feet, there isn't room or enough give for these without it being uncomfortable
- i might have bought a half size up knowing i have these, and then keep them as batting boots,
- with the toe guards taken out, that half size would mean my feet would slide around in them when fielding
- i suppose some ppl have batting and fielding/bowling boots already, and therefore the idea that you have two boots is not ridiculous - in my case, it would have prevented two toe fractures, with ongoing stiffness and pain - £60 on an "extra" pair of batting boots is fine by me, and ultimately what i will end up doing
4. Coming back to fit - since so many of George's goods are "Custom", in keeping with the name of the forum, a custom option that fits exactly across the width of your toes may be another option to explore, if it is viable for George's production process.
- As they are by necessity somewhat rigid, unlike boots and shoes, a one-size fits all option is probably not viable.
- a range of sizes would be another option, but inferior to sending George an outline of our toes +/- a measure of the "height" of our big toe perhaps?
Lastly, my email exchanges with George have been very rewarding. I like the way he goes about his work. His methods, like the toe-caps, may not be a one size fits all thing, but it fits fine with my customer service expectations.
Happy to discuss the toe guards further and answer any questions/post more photos.
Cheers
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