Cricket Collection

Posted on by

To be fair ‘collection’ may be a little bit of an exaggeration at the moment, but in recent months I have started to replace stuff that I really wish I had kept over the years to ‘chart’ my cricketing life. By this I mean the three periods of my life in which I played (or hope to play) cricket: growing up in Yorkshire the equipment I first picked up which was my fathers, that in some cases he had inherited from his father; then in the late 70’s and early 80’s in Staffordshire my “promiscuous” period where I tried to get my hands on every bit of new kit I could; followed by my old man stage which basically shows that the child in me has never left as I continue to collect more (and better) equipment than I will ever need!

The first bat that I used was my fathers old Len Hutton Gradidge Signed bat, which was way too big for me! I had some Len Hutton Gradidge pads exactly like the ones in the picture: apart from the fact that the ones in the picture have been signed by the great man who I once met at Scarborough Cricket Ground and got his autograph. Of course I have long ago lost that! The gloves are from the 1940’s and along with the classic Green Spiked gloves (which I am trying to find a pair of) were the fist ones I wore – against a tennis ball thankfully!
Middle: During the late 70’s and 80’s I was a tad obsessed with Grey Nicolls and the latest gear, so the above bundle is a small representation: the iconic Grey Nicolls Single Scoop, the equally iconic SS Jumbo (the last bat I used), pads that needed whitening and gloves that barely protected the fingers. I would like to add the Sunil Gavasker moulded pads and the SP mitten gloves to this bundle as I used both. Left: modern day Grey Nicolls Supernova Bat, Select Pads and Powerbow Inferno Thunder gloves (bought to highlight the introduction of colour these days.

This is all in the Summer House, which to be fair is far more of a man cave than a family room …….

I call in the Summer House, Sands calls it my play house!
I have a plan: as I get older and the old memory starts to play tricks I can sit here, dribbling away, and be reminded of my past!