Duncan Fearnley Bats

[vic_orthdox]

Was thinking before about how much I'd love to see someone come out with an old school DF and take the attack apart.

Anyways, for the record, how many of the stars of the 1980s used them?

Richards
Border
Crowe

What others?

And is there any reason why they haven't managed to have any sort of international presence, basically since Border retired?

[Jacknife]

I remember Botham used one, Gooch and Lamb from the England side.

Used to have a DF Magnum in the 80's, had such a sweat middle on it compared to other bats of the time I used, like the V12 or the GN scoop.

Funnily enough they make a Retro DF Magnum bat now, looks just the same as I remember.

[Garson007]

IIRC DF decided that it was not worth it paying sponsorship fees to supply bats, so they disappeared from the field of play. Utter cock-up of a decision though.

[SteveNZ]

Yeah...if you lose visibility, you're gone.

Same happened with Wilson golf clubs. Used to be the biggest in the world by a long stretch. Tried to force pros into using their latest technology, they didn't like it, moved on, and their market share was gone.

I

[Top_Cat]

Good lord did I lust after one as a kid.

Retro range is going at half-off at the minute, only 150 quid!

5* Retro Bat

[NUFAN]

I never had one, but thought they were very cool.

I seem to remember Graeme Hick being the face of DF for a while there.

[Kippax]

Duncan Fearnley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

At the same time he established his highly successful eponymous bat-manufacturing company, during the early years Fearnley got many of his ex-playing colleagues and opponents to use his products. Introducing new forms of sponsorship, he built the brand around these friends. John Snow was the first to use the Duncan Fearnley bat in an international, with the likes of Basil D'Oliveira and Dennis Amiss close behind.

By the early 1980s, Fearnley had become the dominant brand within the market throughout the world. At the time it seemed everyone was using or wearing the 3 wicket symbol. Leading players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Clive Lloyd, Kepler Wessels, Ian Botham, Graham Gooch, Allan Lamb, Viv Richards, Graeme Pollock, Wasim Akram, Ravi Shastri, Allan Border, Martin Crowe and many more were putting their trust in the product.

In 1986 he became Worcestershire's high-profile chairman. He attracted some big names - notably Ian Botham - and the county won two County Championships, two Sunday League titles, one Benson & Hedges Cup and one NatWest Trophy title in his 12 years as chairman, as well as more than doubling the membership.

During the 90s the marketplace changed, with lots of smaller brands developing, and cricket bat production started to move overseas to India and Pakistan. Fearnley firmly resisted this trend and cut production accordingly, still concentrating on totally hand-crafted bats at its factory in Worcester.

[uvelocity]

only had one bat as a kid, was a DF. Red in colour, I don't think they had names did they? like bubble (most popular at the time)

[howardj]

Long Tom Moody

Graeme Hick

[benchmark00]

Does Solanki still use one?

[Kippax]

Originally Posted by uvelocity

I don't think they had names did they? like bubble (most popular at the time)

Magnum and Attack I remember, a junior range called Colt I think.

Solanki's changed to Kookaburra (in the last two years) by the looks.

[uvelocity]

yeah it was a harrow kippax, don't know if it was called a colt tbh

[Kippax]

My first bat!
http://images.bidorbuy.co.za/user_im...0809-00055.jpg

[uvelocity]

yeah mine wasn't so long ago as that one by the looks. defo not a colt

[adub]

Originally Posted by NUFAN

I never had one, but thought they were very cool.

Yep same. GN Scoop, SS Jumbo and the Duncs were the cool blades when I was a kid.