The Great Big Cricket Bat Swindle.

[Merve'sTash]

Hi, Im new and my name is Merve'sTash. For alI you nippers Merve had a very impressive tash. and gob. Now enough of the pleasantries, down to buisness..
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I have a lot of disdain for the bats made today & the makers are on a swindle IMO. Here's why I think so.

I play and teach at club level and see countless new thick 'unpressed' bats by the well-known makes last just a season or two. Now, it may be a fad of sorts to plough thru a few quickly like our lads' (15- 22 yr old I mean) pro heros seem to do.. but.. Im in no doubt they are made purposefully incorrectly-pressed, and then marketed with abject spiel like for eg "Super thick edges" with the very intention that they will last no more than a few seasons, so another bat will need be bought.

-Why any batsman would want 'super thick edges' anyway? it is the -antithesis- of what's needed (or a stupidly curved banana-bow either/ more marketing baloney, but that's not important right now)-.

It might be traced back to the sub-continent 'new (Ihsan for eg) bat makers' approach starting (as I saw it 1988 ish/ Pakistan) of extra fat/ lightly pressed thick monster bats, which actually picked up sweetly of course as they were merely a ~2.8lb or so. But were shot after a season or two. AsI see it the reason could be either; with the high pressures involved their machines were/ are perhaps ~not quite so good in compared to English makers' trad/ old 'BigBertha' presses, or, its simply quicker to press a bat once rather than as it should be once again (?- conjecture here, Im not an expert on the process pe se). Nevertleless.. I think the trad Co's here just blatently followed suit, realising a profit windfall relative to their bat revenues previous to say ~late 90's/ early 00's) and with modern marketing drivel now consistantly produce junk bats made for 3 seasons tops, regardless of the actaul willow being a Pro/ 8* finest or a Club/ 4* perfectly fine thanking you please.

I have a 2.9lb GN powerspot 5* from 1988, its as thin as a whippet in comparison to a modern monster 2.9lb, obviously as its pressed well: Its in perfect condition still and I still use it regularly. Quality vs junk. And its just a pressing involved: sheesh.

Its a right royal cricket bat swindle. Add the ludicrous prices for a decent say 5* today and I say our trad English cricket Co's are a bunch of rotters.

MT.

[breecey89]

This is why I opt for companies who will fix/replace your bat for free if it goes quickly (I use PiriPiri at the moment)!! And I've looked at some bat repair companies too, they seem to do a great job for some pretty reasonable prices - pretty much returning your stick to new condition for a fraction of the price of replacing it.

[Merve'sTash]

That's one way to go undoubtadly-

Consider this though; from experience, I sent a failry recent thick-edge 5* GN P'bow for repair. A gorgeous weight and balance, it was given to me after being mullered by a superbly good (200+ on occasion) brash young batsman, who ripped the stickers off and basically discarded it as the face was lifting/ damaged --in precisely 2 seasons flat-- He just asked his dad for a new one & as they have to nowadays (or not as the case may be) his dad obliged/ he's getting used to this now.

It came back looking tip-top, resurfaced, re-badged, re-gripped & in quick time too, and @40 odd quid: great. BUT hang on: same bat, but came back a 2.8, a completely different balance (edges alarmingly thin too/ 8mm in places). Unuseable: a shame as it was 'the bat' Id been waiting the good lord to land in my mitts for 20 odd years! 'freebie' or not.

And if the best bat Co (I believe) cant repair due to their being innitially made too softly/ bad quality.. then my confidence has all but gone.

The only good thing is you can get an older s/h properly made bat (say/ off top of my head/ a ~5* quality: SS turbo, DF, GN, Slazenger) for £30 odd on fleabay: but 'the bat' is only found by picking up, feeling the balance etc etc etc as we all know, not from buying blind s/h or not.

[breecey89]

Yea fair point!!

I suppose the con is not to get suckered in when you see a massively profiled bat that weighs less than 2lb10!!

My PiriPiri is a 2lb8, and probably looks like it should be a 2lb10, but it isn't massively oversized (i.e. no 'Big Edge' gimmick), and, most importantly, goes like a tracer bullet!

[Merve'sTash]

Well, I hope for your sake its simply pressed ok/ if its not a fat whoppa m'fo then you should be ok (but still, and tbh if yr batmaker does say 'repair inc' etc, then it does leads me to think he expects it to come back in a ~relatively~ short timescale (ie still not made as they could/ should be/ or in my argument 'as they bloody well should be considering the prices they invariably charge").

What the heck is the 'Massive Edge" or "Huge profile" bllx anyway? how can they market the very area of the bat you -don't- want to hit?!? (a thinner edge simply makes more sense than a bigger edge) unless they are treating batsmen as idiots! Its traditionally the bowlers that are the idiots for chrissakes, all coal hurling down t'alley (I joke of course/ settle down now).

A numpty in the club Im with recently bought 10x some of these 'FAT mutha' type bats from india, some to sell on here for a buck or two extra: english willow/ lovely pick ups/ around 2.9.. but -really- ridiculously ott thick, and excessively bowed. Surprise surprise: the blades disintegrated within weeks on some & by end of season he'd thrown the rest away cursing his lot. He was an Idiot (and he's a bowler but thats got nothing to do with it of course not).

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by Merve'sTash

Hi, Im new and my name is Merve'sTash. For alI you nippers Merve had a very impressive tash. and gob. Now enough of the pleasantries, down to buisness..

MT.

I think most people know who Merv was - but I am surprised at your location (England) not Aussie given the player you have chosen. Is there a story here?

[Merve'sTash]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

I think most people know who Merv was - but I am surprised at your location (England) not Aussie given the player you have chosen. Is there a story here?

If you said the name Merve Hughes at my club 8/10 wouldn't have any idea: understandably as he was circa 20 years ago & most at my club are ~15-22 and he wasn't a cricket 'great' (he was a good player but not a great player: he was known for his antics more than his natural cricket skill lets face it) so I assumed a crix forum being more a younger thing..

No story bar he was one of the funniest players- charcters we dont see anymore; Merve's tash was so humongous it just clearly needed its own identity.

[benchmark00]

Never heard of him.

[uvelocity]

tell us the story of your name

[Daemon]

stop living in the past. monster bats ftw.

[uvelocity]

thoughts regarding maharoof maharoof maharoof's on fire bat

iirc the fibreglass tape wasn't pressed enough