Padding up with Stretton Fox

Stretton Fox have established themselves among county professionals. Now they are hitting the mass market

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It only takes one sharp blow to start wearing a thigh pad every time you walk to the middle. It’s an unnecessarily painful impact to have to deal with and as such, at all levels of the game, batsmen will rarely walk to the middle without sufficient protection.

And there is one brand that players at the top domestic level are fanatic about.

You may not have heard of Stretton Fox, but you soon will.

“At the start of the 2020 season, I would say somewhere between 43-47% of all professional cricketers in the UK were wearing Stretton Fox thigh pads,” founder George Fox tells the Club Cricket Guide.

“Every single one of them has paid for their equipment, rather than sponsorship.” 

^{The Cricketer tested the range of Stretton fox equipment at our Club Cricket Guide 2021 testing day}

The Cricketer were sent a box of Stretton Fox guards, from thigh pads to chest guards, to use on our testing day. They arrive flat and rigid, so to mould them the user needs to put them in an oven at around 80 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, at which point they soften and can be moulded to the body. The ambidextrous design means one product fits all.

The result is a thin, perfectly-fitting, rock-hard guard. 

The Cricketer’s Nick Friend commented, “the custom nature is what stands out for me. Not only can each piece be moulded to the player’s exact shape, but the detached Velcro straps allows you to wear it however you want.”

Editor Simon Hughes was equally impressed. “It cements cricket’s status as one of the most innovative sports, and shows that protection continues to be of paramount importance.”

The guards are coveted by professionals hence their willingness to pay for them, but how has Stretton Fox, a brand that only launched on a large scale in 2020, managed to become the manufacturer of choice for the country’s top batsmen?

“It started in 2012 as a bet with former allrounder Neil Carter, who is a friend and was playing for Warwickshire at the time,” Fox explains.

“He was showing me his kit. I remember looking at his thigh pad and thinking ‘that looks absolute rubbish!’ The insoles of my shoe would do a better job.

“I said I bet a pint I could do better. So I put some stuff together and literally gaffer taped it to Neil’s leg.”

Fox did not enter this endeavour blind, though. A designer by qualification, Fox has worked within the textiles industry, gaining experience during a long stint in France working in high-end fashion.

“I was mainly textile focussed but that took a technology turn.” Fox continues.

Fox had all the tools and knowhow to bring science into batting protection but shortly after sending Carter to the Edgbaston nets, Fox received a call asking him to get to the ground immediately.

“I thought ‘uh-oh, what’s gone wrong?’ The whole squad is there as well as the ladies team.”

But rather than see Carter injured or hurt, he is laughing as players are hitting his new thigh pad with a bat, and the allrounder couldn’t feel a thing. All the players wanted one.

“I gave them a price which they agreed, got back home to start work and before I had finished that order I had people from other clubs getting in touch because word had got out.

“Within a year there were 300 pros using the equipment.”

^{The guards can be moulded to the individual after heating in the oven. Bottom right: short leg guards before moulding}

What sets this equipment apart is the adaptability to fit the body. The material is light yet solid and rather than have fixed straps, the guards are held on using two detached elasticated Velcro straps.

“You aren’t limited by the straps, they can go wherever you want. You’ll find the first time people wear it the straps will be aligned and looking smart. But give it a month and the straps will be all over the place at different angles but that’s the point, you find what is most comfortable to you.

Stretton Fox’s material disperses the force of the ball, lessening it’s impact.

“What we’re doing is the equivalent of if someone treads on your foot wearing flat trainers, rather than stilettos.”

The Stretton part of the brand name came later.

“There was a young boy, Nathan Stretton, who was the 12-year-old son of my close friend. He had just been signed to Leicestershire as a young county player and came back from a training sessions quite bothered by something.”

Nathan had been hit by some short balls and had some painful bruises, but the problem wasn’t that he wasn’t wearing protection, it’s that he was.

“My blood boiled,” Fox remembers. “So I made him a set of pads and because he had really made me want to do something I said we would name the business together, and Stretton Fox was born.”

It is the bespoke nature and inability to feel the ball that really makes this equipment stand out. The ability to mould and strap them on however you wish results in no invasion of comfort and gives batsmen every opportunity to complete that quick single or stand up confidently to the short ball.

To find out more about Stretton Fox equipment, visit www.strettonfoxsports.com