Batting gloves are an important part of any cricketer’s armoury. If you’ve ever been hit on the hand by a cricket ball before, you’ll know why they’re so important!
Batting gloves have two main functions:
- To protect our hands from damage due to being struck by the ball – Hand injuries can keep batsmen out of action for a long time, so we need to make sure we buy an appropriate pair of gloves that have plenty of padding. This padding helps to stop those injuries occurring.
- To allow us to grip the bat more effectively – Sometimes when we strike the ball, the bat can spin around in our hands. If this happens it can lead to us miscuing our shots in the direction of fielders, which isn’t ideal! Purchasing a good quality pair of batting gloves can help to stop this from happening.
Batsmen who are looking for a new pair of gloves may not know where to start seeing as though there are so many options available! If any of you are currently having this problem, then I’m here to help you out. I recently purchased 5 of the best pairs of gloves that are currently available, and in this post I’m going to give you an in-depth review on each of them! I’ll be rating the gloves in the following categories: Style, comfort, protective qualities and value for money. In each category, I’ll give the gloves a rating out of 5, with 5 being the best possible rating and 1 being the lowest! Hopefully these ratings will give you a clearer idea of which gloves you want to buy. In addition to all of that, I’ll let you know the size guides for each pair of gloves so that you know which size will fit you!
Here is my list of the best batting gloves on the market right now:
- New Balance TC860 Batting Gloves
- Gray Nicolls Powerbow Inferno 700 Batting Gloves
- Gunn & Moore Diamond Batting Gloves
- Kookaburra Ghost 4.2 Batting Gloves
- Gray Nicolls Shockwave 300 Batting Gloves
For those of you that don’t have time to read my whole review, have a look at the table below if you want my ratings for each product! The links to Amazon are included in the ‘Price’ column if you would like to check how much each pair will cost you.
| Style | Comfort | Protective Qualities | Value For Money | Final Rating | Price | |
| New Balance TC860 | 9/10 | 7/10 | 8/10 | 7/10 | 31/40 | Click here to see the latest price! |
| Gray-Nicolls Powerbow Inferno 700 | 8/10 | 9/10 | 9/10 | 7/10 | 33/40 | Click here to see the latest price! |
| Gunn & Moore Diamond | 7/10 | 6/10 | 7/10 | 8/10 | 28/40 | Click here to see the latest price! |
| Kookaburra Ghost 4.2 | 8/10 | 6/10 | 6/10 | 9/10 | 29/40 | Click here to see the latest price! |
| Gray-Nicolls Shockwave 300 | 5/10 | 8/10 | 7/10 | 8/10 | 28/40 | Click here to see the latest price! |
Let’s now go through each pair of gloves in more detail…
New Balance TC860 Batting Gloves
Out of all the pairs of gloves that I bought, these are the ones that I chose to keep! New Balance have been emerging as a top equipment brand in the cricket world for quite a while now, and I think when you look at their products you’ll be able to see why. Their simple, good looking designs are easy on the eye, and the level of comfort and protection doesn’t leave anything to be desired.
My hand measurement is 21cm. If you want to measure your own hands, simply take a tape measure or a ruler and with your palm facing upwards, measure from your wrist to the tip of your middle finger. Copy the way I’m doing it in the photo below!
Once you have your measurement, you can look at the size guides for each type of glove online and know which one you need to buy! Sadly, New Balance don’t seem to have a size guide that covers different measurements in inches or centimetres, so I just bought the Adult Right Hand (RMA) version. Luckily, they fit me perfectly! Remember, if you’re a left-handed batsman, you’ll have to buy left handed gloves so that the thumb protector is on your bottom hand. Here are the different sizes of new balance gloves that are available:
- RLA – Large Adult Right Hand
- LLA – Large Adult Left Hand
- RMA – Adult Right Hand
- LMA – Adult Left Hand
- RSA – Small Adult Right Hand
- LSA – Small Adult Left Hand
- RY – Youth Right Hand
- LY – Youth Left Hand
- RMJ – Junior Right Hand
- LMJ – Junior Left Hand
- RSJ – Small Junior Right Hand
- LSJ – Small Junior Left Hand
Style
Rating: 9 / 10
Some of you may disagree with this rating because we all have different tastes, but I love how these gloves look. They’re very visually impressive. I’m from England, and I’m an Arsenal fan so I am a bit biased towards the colours red and white which may explain why I like these gloves so much.
As well as the overall colour scheme, these gloves have a few sections that are made out of a metallic red material which I think give them a more striking look! These sections are found on the velcro strap, the New Balance logo, the start of the padding, and the end of the index and middle fingers on the bottom hand glove. The padding that is installed on the fingers of the glove features a kind of chevron pattern, which is a nice touch. You can see some pictures of the gloves below!
Comfort
Rating: 7 / 10
These gloves are about as comfortable as can be expected. They’re nice and light, which is pretty much essential for all batsmen. No one wants gloves that feel heavy and weigh your hands down. We want to be able to move our hands as quickly as possible! The inside of the glove is made from soft cotton and feels exactly like a towel does. Basically, it’s very soft and comfortable. The wrist band is made out of the same material, and that secures tightly around the wrist with the aid of a velcro strap!
The palm of the glove is made from soft, thin leather. This is standard for almost all gloves and helps us to grip the bat properly. This leather section has various tiny holes in it which allows air to get in to our hands, helping them to not overheat as much! In addition to the holes on the palm, each finger on the gloves also has tightly woven netting on the sides which can allow more air to get in to our hands. This is never a bad thing!
I can’t really fault this pair of gloves in terms of comfort, but I’ve rated them slightly lower than I planned to because the fit of the glove on my right thumb is very tight! This isn’t massively harmful (it’s probably a case of me having weirdly sized thumbs rather than the glove size being strange), but it’s something to watch out for!
Protective Qualities
Rating: 8 / 10
The protection offered by these gloves is quite substantial. The bottom hand glove (the right hand one in my case) has the standard thumb protector, as well as all of the finger protectors. It also has a side bar protector installed that you can see in the picture below, helping to protect the side of your index finger from being struck by the ball.
Also, the bottom hand glove has extra reinforcement towards the ends of the index and middle fingers. These are vulnerable areas so New Balance have included an extra plastic insert to provide extra reinforcement. You can see these red sections in the photo below! On the top hand glove, the standard finger protectors are of course included. However, on this glove there is no thumb protector or side bar protector, as this hand is less likely to be struck in those areas!
The protective sections for the fingers are just under 3cm thick, and the thumb protector is slightly thinner than that. The thumb protector on the bottom hand also has a solid front section, protecting the front of the thumb from direct impact!
The last main protective area on the gloves is the part where the logo is. This area is made out of the same high-density foam that forms the rest of the protective parts of the glove. This area protects the back of your hand from damage!
Value For Money
Rating: 7 / 10
These gloves are probably the most expensive on the list. They’ll currently cost you somewhere in the region of £60! I’ve given them a rating of 7 for value for money because you can get gloves with a little less quality that cost close to half of the price. Even though these are my one of my two favourite pairs of gloves on this list, I’d recommend buying one of the other less expensive pairs on this list if you’re wanting to save money! It all depends on what your priorities are. If you’re not really limited by your budget and want a quality, attractive pair of gloves that a lot of professional cricketers are wearing, then go ahead and purchase these. You won’t regret it.
If you want to check the current price of these gloves on Amazon, click here.
Gray Nicolls Powerbow Inferno 700 Batting Gloves
These are another cracking pair of gloves. When I was deciding which ones I wanted to keep, I found it incredibly hard to choose between the New Balance TC860’s and these ones! In the end, I picked these. They were just too good to get rid of!
If you’re a fan of cricket, then there’s a high chance that you’ll have heard of the Gray-Nicolls brand. It’s synonymous with the sport! They use great quality materials that contribute to some of the most iconic designs in the game.
If you’re wondering what size is appropriate for you, I can tell you that I bought the ‘Medium Right Hand’ version of the gloves and they fit me perfectly. The glove size guide from Gray-Nicolls is included below! As I’ve said already, my hands measured 21cm from my wrist to the tip of my middle finger. Once you have measured your own hands, you’ll know which size of gloves to buy from the table below! Don’t forget to buy a left handed version if you’re a left handed batsman!
| Gray-Nicolls Glove Sizes | XSJ | SJ | J | Y | S | M | L |
| Hand Size (Centimetres) | 13 – 16.5 | 16.5 – 17.8 | 17.8 – 19 | 19 – 19.6 | 19.6 – 20.3 | 20.3 – 21.6 | 21.6 + |
Style
Rating: 8 / 10
These gloves have a bit more a bold design than the New Balance ones, but they still look really good. In fact, many of you may prefer a slightly bolder design with brighter colours! The colour scheme of these gloves is white, black and yellow. The wrist band features the famous Gray-Nicolls chequered design in black and yellow, and the brand logo and glove name can be seen on the velcro strap. The index finger on both gloves is yellow, with the middle finger being black. The ring finger, little finger and thumb on both gloves are white.
The logo and glove name is also positioned on the back of the hand. You should be able to see all of this in the photos below!
Comfort
Rating: 9 / 10
These are definitely the comfiest of all of the gloves that I’ve reviewed in this post. If the level of comfort is the only thing that matters to you when it comes to buying batting gloves, then you definitely should be purchasing these ones!
The gloves are perfectly shaped and sized, meaning that they are a snug fit but not too tight that they feel restrictive. The inside of the glove is made from two materials – cotton on the top, and leather on the bottom. The fingers of the gloves are flexible, meaning you can bend them easily. This is something that I do rate quite highly. Certain gloves are so rigid that it becomes hard to move your hands around a lot. I like a lot of flexibility in my gloves.
The wristband is made from a double-sided towel-like material, and can be secured as tightly around your wrist as you like using the standard velcro strap. Lastly (and this is my favourite part), the thumb protector on the bottom hand glove is nice and large, meaning that your thumb doesn’t get squashed up against the solid part at the front. Some gloves make this part too small, which I hate! Additionally, this glove has a spongy material at the end of the thumb protector, meaning that your thumb can sit comfortably inside. This is a really simple addition but improves the comfort of the gloves so much in my opinion!
The gloves also have the standard air holes in the palm, allowing heat from your hands to escape. There are also plenty of holes in the mesh-like cotton material that makes up the sides of the fingers, which aids the cooling process even further.
I honestly couldn’t ask for much more from these gloves in terms of comfort!
Protective Qualities
Rating: 9 / 10
These batting gloves are made out of high quality protective material. The high-density foam that is used to create the protective areas on the fingers is incredibly rigid on the outside – and this will undoubtedly give it a high resistance to impact. When I pick the gloves up and try to compress the padding with my hands, it is pretty hard to do! This is how you know these gloves will protect you well against a cricket ball. On the bottom hand glove, Gray-Nicolls have installed something that they call a ‘glide guard’ on the index and middle finger protectors. The glide guard seems to be a long layer of plastic that sits beneath the fabric of the glove, providing extra reinforcement against impact. The thumb protector on the bottom hand glove is also very rigid and protects the top of the thumb as well as the front of the thumb from direct impacts.
Like the New Balance gloves that we just looked at, this Gray-Nicholls version also has a protective side bar on the bottom hand glove to protect the inside of your index finger. You can see this and the glide guard in the photo below. Both gloves also have the standard high density foam sections that protect the back of the hand.
The protective sections that cover the fingers are around 2.5 centimetres thick, with the thumb section being about 2 centimetres thick.
Value For Money
Rating: 7 / 10
These gloves will probably cost you somewhere in the region of £50 – £60, which is a pretty good deal. For that money you’ll be getting a pair of gloves that are amazingly comfy and lightweight, yet also very resistant to impact. They also have a unique design featuring bold colours – which is attractive to a lot of cricketers both young and old.
If you don’t really mind how much money you spend on a pair of batting gloves, then the Gray-Nicolls Powerbow Inferno 700’s should be on your list as ones to consider buying!
Gunn & Moore Diamond Batting Gloves
Gunn & Moore (or GM for short) are another excellent and very famous cricket equipment brand. This pair of batting gloves certainly live up to the reputation of the brand! Also, these gloves are apparently endorsed by Ben Stokes…they have his initials printed on the side.
As for the size of the gloves, I bought the ‘Adult Right Hand’ version of them, and they fit my hands perfectly. The gloves are also available in other sizes, which can be found in the table below:
| Gunn & Moore Glove Sizes | X Small Junior | Small Junior | Junior | Youths | X Small Adult | Small Adult | Adult | Large Adult |
| Hand Size (Centimetres) | 14.5 – 15.75 | 15.75 – 17 | 17 – 18.25 | 18.25 – 19 | 19 – 19.5 | 19.5 – 20.75 | 20.75 – 22 | 22 + |
Don’t forget to buy a right hand pair of gloves if you’re a right handed batsman, and a pair of left hand ones if you’re a left hander!
Style
Rating: 7 / 10
I like the design of these gloves, although I don’t feel they’re as visually impressive as some of the others on this list. The main colour scheme is a combination of white, light blue and black, and from the pictures below you’ll be able to see that the gloves have a cool little pattern on the back of the hand. Aside from this patterned area, the design of the gloves is pretty simple! The logo and the name of the gloves can be seen on the back of the hand in bold lettering!
As for the protective areas on the gloves, the design is also pretty simple. On the top hand, the finger protectors are made from long sausage-like sections of high density foam. On the bottom hand the protective areas on the index finger and middle finger are designed slightly differently. They are divided into two sections, with the section that covers the end of the fingers being protected by a much harder material.
You’ll also see the GM logo in large lettering on the velcro strap, which I think looks really smart.
Comfort
Rating: 6 / 10
These gloves are actually really comfortable, even though they didn’t look like they would be before I tried them on. They were a really nice, snug fit on my hands, but weren’t too tight so that they were uncomfortable. There is also a really good range of movement within the fingers of the gloves. This movement will also become even easier as you wear the gloves more.
The inside of the gloves are made from a combination of soft leather and cotton, meaning that they slide on to your hands easily. The thumb on the bottom hand glove is also really comfortable, which is an area that I often think is too tight and restrictive! The wrist band is made out of the relatively standard double-sided towel material, which also doubles as a sweatband. The wrist band secures around the wrist with a nicely sized velcro strap!
The palm and fingers of the gloves have plenty of holes installed in them, which allows air to flow through and cool your hands down. The sides of each finger are also made out of a mesh-like cotton material, which also allows air inside! Batting gloves will always make your hands sweat, but it would be a lot worse if little ventilation methods like this were not included!
Protective Qualities
Rating: 7 / 10
As I’ve already mentioned, these gloves have long sausage-like sections that are filled with high density foam to protect each individual finger. On certain fingers that are more vulnerable to hits than others there are areas on the gloves that are reinforced, such as the ends of the index and middle fingers on the bottom hand. The thumb on the bottom hand is also well protected by a casing that surrounds the entire end of the thumb. The backs of the hands are protected by large rectangular sections of high density foam.
The thickness of the high-density foam is about 2.5cm thick on each individual finger, as well as on the thumb on the bottom hand. This is a decent level of protection and is something I look for in a pair of gloves. The safer they will keep my hands – the better!
Value For Money
Rating: 8 / 10
Given the good quality of these gloves, you may be shocked to find that they can be purchased for somewhere in the region of £30. This is a very competitive price! Some of the other gloves on this list may be more visually attractive and may consist of higher quality materials, but they will cost you almost double the price! If you’re sticking to a tight budget, then gloves like this may be your best bet. They definitely won’t let you down, and you’ll still have a bit of extra cash left over to purchase some other equipment!
Kookaburra Ghost 4.2 Batting Gloves
Kookaburra have always been one of my favourite cricket brands, so I chose to buy a pair of the Ghost 4.2 gloves to check them out. I often associate Kookaburra with bright colours and bold designs, but these gloves are a little more understated. They have more of a simple, classic look!
I bought the ‘Adult Right Hand’ version of these gloves, and they fit me perfectly. As I said before, my hand measurement is 21cm from my wrist to the tip of my middle finger. Sadly, Kookaburra don’t have an exact glove size guide. The sizes that they do offer can be seen in the list below:
- Extra Small Junior
- Small Junior
- Junior
- Youth
- Adult
They also offer both right handed and left-handed versions of the gloves, so make sure you get the right pair depending on that!
Style
Rating: 8 / 10
Again, I’m expecting some disagreement with this rating because we all have different tastes, but I’ve given these gloves a rating of 8 for their style/look. I mentioned in the previous section that they have a simple, classic design, and you can definitely see that in the photos that I’ve taken. The main colour scheme of the gloves is white & silver/grey.
The main protective sections of the glove are designed in a pretty standard way. Each of the finger sections is basically like a long sausage of high density foam! The Kookaburra logo can be found on the velcro strap as well as on the protective section that covers the back of the hand.
If you’re a fan of more understated designs and neutral colours, these gloves may be a good option for you!
Comfort
Rating: 6 / 10
These gloves were actually really comfortable, and fit my hands really nicely! Again, they’re nice and light, which is definitely something that I look for. The inside of the gloves are made out of soft leather, giving them a nice non-abrasive feel. The wrist band is made out of a towel material, and this is secured around the wrist with a velcro strap. A small criticism of these gloves is that the velcro strap is too small, and can be a bit fiddly. Ideally, the strap would be a bit thicker, so you don’t have to position it as accurately. You can see a picture of the thin velcro strap below! As well as that, when I fasted the strap on the gloves, the wristband does not secure tightly around my wrist. It leaves a big gap! If you’re wanting the wrist band to perform the role of a sweatband and not let any sweat from your arms roll down into your gloves, then this won’t be desirable!
The palms of the gloves are made from the same soft leather I mentioned in the previous paragraph. The leather is quite thin and has holes installed along the fingers and on the palm to allow air through to your hands. Like with many modern pairs of batting gloves, the sides of the fingers on the gloves are made out of a kind of mesh-cotton material. This is a very breathable area of the glove that helps to keep your hands cool!
Protective Qualities
Rating: 6 / 10
The protection offered by these gloves is pretty standard. Both of the gloves have the standard back of the hand protection as well as the long sausage-like protectors for each individual finger. The protective areas are made from MDF, which has good impact-resistant qualities. On the bottom hand glove the thumb is well protected on all sides. It basically sits inside a protective casing that guards it against direct and glancing impacts.
The protective MDF sections on the gloves are just over 2 centimetres thick, which isn’t terrible but other gloves on this list offer slightly thicker protective sections!
Value For Money
Rating: 9 / 10
The price is probably the most attractive thing about these gloves. They’re usually available for around £25, but I got them for even less than that! That is pretty remarkable when you consider that these are a really decent pair of batting gloves. They’re not particularly remarkable in any aspect, but they’ll do a great job for you if you’re buying on a lower budget. If you’re a fan of simplistic designs as well as saving money, this might be the pair of gloves that you’re looking for!
If you want to check the latest price of these gloves on Amazon, click here.
Gray-Nicolls Shockwave 300 Batting Gloves
I’ve already stated what I think of the Gray-Nicolls brand earlier in this post so I won’t repeat it again here, but these gloves are another great product produced by them. The Shockwave 300 batting gloves are one of the older models that they offer – I think they were one of the main 2019 products! I chose to buy these because I saw them as a potentially cheaper alternative to the Powerbow Inferno 700’s that I covered earlier.
In terms of sizing, I again chose to buy the ‘Medium Right Hand’ version of the gloves. The table below gives you all of the details you’ll need in order to decide which size of Gray-Nicolls gloves you should be buying.
| Gray-Nicolls Glove Sizes | XSJ | SJ | J | Y | S | M | L |
| Hand Size (Centimetres) | 13 – 16.5 | 16.5 – 17.8 | 17.8 – 19 | 19 – 19.6 | 19.6 – 20.3 | 20.3 – 21.6 | 21.6 + |
Style
Rating: 5 / 10
The design of these gloves is pretty simple. They don’t really have any remarkable features, but they’re still quite easy on the eye. The colour scheme of the gloves is white along with small bits of electric blue. The electric blue is present on the wrist band where Gray-Nicolls’ famous chequered print is located, as well as on the back of the hand. The high-density foam that forms the protection for each finger is organised into rectangular blocks, which is a pretty standard design for batting gloves!
The Gray-Nicolls logo can be found on the back of the hand as well as on the velcro strap. I found the design of these gloves a little bit boring, which is the reason for the lower rating.
Comfort
Rating: 8 / 10
Like the other Gray-Nicolls gloves that I’ve covered in this post, the Shockwave 300’s are incredibly comfortable. They are a nice snug fit whilst not being too tight, and the inside of the gloves are also incredibly comfortable. The top of the inside of the gloves is made from soft cotton, and the bottom is made from soft thin leather. This leather has holes inserted into it that allows heat from your hands to escape. The sides of the fingers in the gloves are also made from a mesh-like fabric that has plenty of holes in it, allowing hot air to escape through there too.
The wrist band secures nice and tightly around the wrist with the help of the velcro strap, and it is made out of a towel-like material on both sides. This helps to stop it irritating your forearm!
Protective Qualities
Rating: 7 / 10
As I may have already mentioned, the parts of the glove that protect your fingers are made from long rectangular blocks of high density foam. These rectangular blocks sit on top of the fingers and protect them from impact. The thumb protection is also made from a rectangular block of high density foam, but it also has a small insert that protects the front of the thumb as well as the top! The foam blocks also extend beyond the limit of the fingers and protect the back of the hand. These foam blocks are about 3cm in width, meaning they’ll protect your hands very well!
The bottom hand glove also features a smaller version of the protective side bar that we have seen on other gloves in this post. The side bar is intended to protect the inside of your index finger from impact! You can see the side bar and how much smaller it is than the version on other gloves in the photo below.
Value For Money
Rating: 8 / 10
This is a good quality pair of gloves that can be bought for somewhere in the region of £30. Gray-Nicolls are one of cricket’s most highly respected brands, and if having the latest pair of gloves is not a big deal to you, then this 2019 version should be a great option for you to consider!
There are definitely other batting gloves in this post that are more visually attractive, and ones that are made from higher quality materials, but these ones will perform excellently for a relatively low price. If you’re picking a pair of gloves and purely trying to save money, you should be looking at these ones!
If you want to check the current price of these gloves on Amazon, click here.
