SS vs DSC Cricket Gloves
Two similarly designed gloves but with totally different prices.
A. DSC Intense Speed Cricket Wicket Keeping Gloves
Price
The DSC Intense Speed Cricket Wicket Keeping Gloves cost ₹ 3,079. Though it may seem expensive, the price is justified. The materials used to create the gloves are of high quality.
Materials
The glove is made of Aniline Leather, which means that the dye used to colour the gloves won’t cover the leather’s natural texture. Additionally, the entire glove’s exterior is wrapped in the fine leather. The palm has a thin, pimpled rubber lining, giving the glove extra grip. The cuffs of the gloves have towel linings which help absorb sweat.
The cuffs also have a thin layer of foam in them, adding to the gloves’ comfort. The webbing between the thumb and index finger is sewn into the seams of the fingers themselves. This detail gives the wearer a feel as to how far he can extend the two fingers and feel the ball.
The cuffs are also designed to be thick and a bit long to protect the wearer’s wrist in case a ball hits you in this area. The gloves can be used in the semi-professional level such as county matches.
Weight
The gloves are extremely light, weighing only 290 g. This helps keep the wicket-keeper agile enough to react to fly balls or fast pitches while protecting his hands from the impact of the ball.
Size
The glove’s size is suitable for an adult male. It is not advisable to let children use this glove during their games as it may keep falling off and fail to soften the landing of the ball, not to mention failing to catch the ball entirely.
Design
The gloves’ high contrast colours give it high visibility regardless of the time of day. However, because of the bright colours, it could be difficult to spot when playing on a grassy field. The colours compliment one another making it appealing to some.
Popular Players
Some of the popular players who use the DCMC brand are:
Colin Munro of New Zealand,
Adil Usman Rashid of England, and
Dwayne John Bravo of the West Indies
B. SS Platino Men's Wicket Keeping Gloves
Price
The SS Platino Men’s Wicket Keeping Gloves cost ₹ 2,365. Being relatively affordable, these pair of gloves are made from a high-quality material which is a steal. The price also often drops since the gloves go on sale almost regularly.
Materials
The gloves are made of high-quality leather, including the back and the cuffs. The back of the glove is lined with a mesh which provides ventilation for the hands. The fingers also have a semi-hollow finger protector at the end. This gives the wearer added protection when handling balls as well as provide additional ventilation.
Weight
The gloves are a bit on the heavy side weighing 350g. The mesh seems, although providing some sort of ventilation, also adds to the total weight of the gloves. This is also due to the glove having thicker leather in its cuffs. This feature adds extra protection at the wearers’ wrists but also comes at the cost of being agile.
Size
The glove is meant to be used by adult males. This means that any hand size smaller than that is not suitable for these gloves. They could fall off when trying to attempt a catch which would put the wearer’s hands at risk.
Design
The colours used in the design complement each other, making it look easy on the eyes. The SS brand of cricket equipment has always used dark colour schemed paired with high-contrast ones to create an aesthetically pleasing design.
Popular Players
Some of the popular players that use the SS brand of cricket equipment are:
Parthiv Patel of India
Stuart Poynter of Ireland
Nuwan Kulasekara of Sri Lanka
C. Final Comparison
Both bats are fairly affordable despite the expensive and high-end materials used to make them. However, the DSC wicket keeping gloves’ materials are just a tad higher than that of the SS. Though the SS may fall behind in materials, it makes up for in innovation. Mesh and semi-hollow materials give the wearer comfortability and help the hands stay dry even in long games.
The right decision would be based on your preference and your answer on this question: would you prefer innovation at the cost of quality or would you go with the tried and tested quality over innovation?