While I was in Lahore, Pakistan over my summer vacations, I had few excursions to National Cricket Academy where all of Pakistan cricket player train and it is only cricket academy in the country. So due to adoration for cricket bats, any player I came across, first thing I would do after greeting them is to ask them if I could look at their bat.
During my voyage to Canada, there was one particular player bat who I had been mesmerizing and it was Umar Akmal's GM. When I held that stick, I instantly fell in love with it and that bat felt no more than 2lb 9 ounces, the profile of that looked tad similar to Shane Watson GM Flare Players Edition in some facets but I was unable to find Shane Watson GM Flare Players Edition in a low weight, after futile results I was suggested about B3 by some of the forummers.
I was skeptical about B3 in beginning as I am always skeptical when it comes to a new brand in the market. However, after reading reviews of some sophisticated members regarding B3 was beginning of my journey to the brand. Having said that it was Roco and his experiences which fully convinced me, it was due to him why I bought B3 today, simple as that. Then I fired couple of emails to David and I found out they only accept bank transfer, now that is problematic for me because I have to pay overhead cost from Canada via my bank, hence, I prefer PayPal. Then there came Roco to my rescue, he paid B3 on my behalf and I PayPal'd him the funds. So if Roco wasn't there then I couldn't have gotten a B3, absolutely no way really. Having said that I'm extremely grateful and thankful to Roco, he is extremely courteous, affable and is among recherché gem of guys you'll ever come across on this forum.
One payment had been finalized, I told David Bacon how I want a shape based on Umar Akmal's profile, so David had sent me drawing swiftly which looked spot on with a slight alteration which was further lowering the swell position to have an elongated middle. Once drawings were finalized, I told David my desired weight along specifications (2 lb 9 ounces, more than 35mm edges with spine being more than 65mm) who then began a quest for light cleft, after a day or so I was sent pictures of two clefts, they were;
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo11.jpg)
After spending good time thinking about it I went ahead with 9 grainer, however, I was not entirely convinced as I was hoping to get something better. After my apathetic reply to David, he said he will get back to me with more clefts. Then David got hold of another light cleft which was better in terms of aesthetics and went ahead with it. So everything was sorted out and now it was time to get the bat in CNC machine. All was done in matter of few days.
Roco was the man who gave me green light as he played with my "wand" while he was at B3 headquarters, I was told by anonymous source that he mesmerized my stick and was left amused after seeing the sheer size of this litte bad boy compared to his ;) Roco told me more about my bat which had pleased me and I was assured I will be getting a beauty.
However, I had to go to US for my cousins wedding and Muslim festive so I had to defer postage of bat until I return to country. On my last few days during my US trip I told David to post the bat off which he did, however, due to courier company the bat took longer than it was expected. On top of that lack of update on website was not delightful as it left both parties exasperated, however, David took front seat and took care of the matter. At one stage we reached to a point where bat was being traced nor courier was aware where it was until this morning I got a DM from David on Twitter saying bat reached Canada last night. As soon I heard this news, there was no update on couriers website which further infuriated me.
While I was having delicious breakfast made by my mom (Parathas) door bell rang and my instinct told me this will be it! To my luck this was courier guy who had my parcel in his hands as it was his new born baby. I for a minute felt that this man has fell in love with my parcel, hehe! Then I rushed and opened the parcel and before I paid any heed to bat I was told there is a gift for me by Roco, I was more intrigued about the gift than the bat, so I scrutinized the box and found that there was a mallet for me which was a gift from Roco, I was instantly touched by Roco's generosity and his kind gesture. It meant a lot to me and I'm once again thankful to him!
Then I held the bat in my hands, it was double gripped as I had told David to double grip due to my obsession with thick handles (blame 100 not out for that, he was main man who influenced me ;) ), due to my sore arms, initially the bat felt heavy, but then I held my match bat which turned out to feel heavier than B3 even, so then it was me rather than anything else. I then took mallet and hit the middle just to hear the sound of mallet because I was deprived of it for all this time!
After that I looked at the profile and I was absolutely bemused to see the sheer amount of meat it had and couldn't believe that this bat including two grips is 2.10! I was in shock as it is enormous! The profile looked absolutely spot on, one thing I was extremely vigilant was concavity, I didn't wanted any concaving because Umar Akmal's bat didn't have any. While I was scrutinizing B3, I saw no concaving which further satiated me.
Then I took a ball and bounced it on the face to see how well it response and it was beyond my expectations, it had certainly exceeded my expectations as in its initial stages it pings better than most of my bat. In addition, what further pleased me was how long the middle was, the bat throughout the face had impressive rebound which further amused me! Overall bat has exceptionally rebound! I wonder once it opens, how it will be!
Alas, I would like to wholeheartedly thank Roco first and fore mostly then David Bacon for cooperating with me and providing me a lovely bat. I'm extremely pleased.
Please bear with me as I wrote all this via my BlackBerry, so Alvaro bud I guess you'll need to be lenient with grammatical errors (if any ;) ).
If anyone has any question(s) please feel free to ask me :)
Before I bore you guys to dead, here are the pictures.
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo1-25.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo2-29.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo5-23.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo1-27.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo3-28.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo5-21.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo2-32.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo1-28.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo3-31.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo5-24.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo1-26.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo2-30.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo3-29.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo4-27.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo5-22.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo4-26.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo3-30.jpg)
(http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac91/minhasuz/photo4-28.jpg)