Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Topic started by: uknsaunders on March 10, 2014, 11:03:10 AM
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Sometimes it has to be said - give a bat time to perform.
Happens a fair bit on here where somebody get's a bat and 2 weeks later they turn around and flog it at a loss. Typical excuses are "it doesn't feel right in the hands","middle not in the right place" etc. So let's de-bunk some of these myths:-
1. If you had one bat you would use it - how many times have you nicked a bat from a team mate and thought "this is quite nice"?, even though it's not your preferred profile?
2. If you do the research and buy the bat, how wrong can it be - we get over fussy. Some Pro's spend less time than we do over really trivial things.
3. Doesn't feel right in the hands - that's why tape and grips were invented. You can fashion nearly any handle with some imagination
4. Middle not in the right place - you have to hit it first, I've used the crictech sheets and my middle can go a long time before seeing some action. I can bat a bit as well.
The last point comes to the main issue. Bats need playing in, some respond really quickly and others are "sleepers" and only wake up after a fair amount of use. I have 2 bats that have seen half to a season of use and I consider them at their peak now. One of them I started using last year is only now reaching full performance. I probably have 2 more that I need to net the hell out of to reach the same level.
Many old timers on the forum know all this, others though jump from one bat to another. Have a think about the above next time and ask yourself how much of a go have you given the bat before you stick it on a sales thread?
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Sometimes it has to be said - give a bat time to perform.
Happens a fair bit on here where somebody get's a bat and 2 weeks later they turn around and flog it at a loss. Typical excuses are "it doesn't feel right in the hands","middle not in the right place" etc. So let's de-bunk some of these myths:-
1. If you had one bat you would use it - how many times have you nicked a bat from a team mate and thought "this is quite nice"?, even though it's not your preferred profile?
2. If you do the research and buy the bat, how wrong can it be - we get over fussy. Some Pro's spend less time than we do over really trivial things.
3. Doesn't feel right in the hands - that's why tape and grips were invented. You can fashion nearly any handle with some imagination
4. Middle not in the right place - you have to hit it first, I've used the crictech sheets and my middle can go a long time before seeing some action. I can bat a bit as well.
The last point comes to the main issue. Bats need playing in, some respond really quickly and others are "sleepers" and only wake up after a fair amount of use. I have 2 bats that have seen half to a season of use and I consider them at their peak now. One of them I started using last year is only now reaching full performance. I probably have 2 more that I need to net the hell out of to reach the same level.
Many old timers on the forum know all this, others though jump from one bat to another. Have a think about the above next time and ask yourself how much of a go have you given the bat before you stick it on a sales thread?
Preach it son
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Utter blasphemy Saunders! The whole point of the forum is to turnaround as many bats as possible! ;)
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Sometimes it has to be said - give a bat time to perform.
Happens a fair bit on here where somebody get's a bat and 2 weeks later they turn around and flog it at a loss. Typical excuses are "it doesn't feel right in the hands","middle not in the right place" etc. So let's de-bunk some of these myths:-
1. If you had one bat you would use it - how many times have you nicked a bat from a team mate and thought "this is quite nice"?, even though it's not your preferred profile?
2. If you do the research and buy the bat, how wrong can it be - we get over fussy. Some Pro's spend less time than we do over really trivial things.
3. Doesn't feel right in the hands - that's why tape and grips were invented. You can fashion nearly any handle with some imagination
4. Middle not in the right place - you have to hit it first, I've used the crictech sheets and my middle can go a long time before seeing some action. I can bat a bit as well.
The last point comes to the main issue. Bats need playing in, some respond really quickly and others are "sleepers" and only wake up after a fair amount of use. I have 2 bats that have seen half to a season of use and I consider them at their peak now. One of them I started using last year is only now reaching full performance. I probably have 2 more that I need to net the hell out of to reach the same level.
Many old timers on the forum know all this, others though jump from one bat to another. Have a think about the above next time and ask yourself how much of a go have you given the bat before you stick it on a sales thread?
Why do I feel this is aimed at me :(
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Utter blasphemy Saunders! The whole point of the forum is to turnaround as many bats as possible! ;)
It would defeat the main purpose of the forum lol .
As a batmaker it must be equally annoying when some little kid starts whining about his bat not going like the clappers from Day 1. Particularly when you know he is rubbish and has'nt even tried to knock it in properly.
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I've had a few slow starters. A salix and a Pakistani blank. Both turned into really nice bats once they opened up. The Salix only being beaten by the Chase I had with a gazillion grains.
I have an M&H Harlequin from Asad currently, that has all the potential to be a really nice bat (shape/grains/pickup etc) but its definitely a slow burner, but thats the best thing about not swapping and changing bats around in the nets or for different formats, it gets to the quality stage far quicker than those who use it once, go "oh its not pinging" and put it to the back of the queue again.
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Why do I feel this is aimed at me :(
lol - certainly wasn't! I was just mulling over the performance of my ayrtek and how much it has come on after a few more net sessions (and cracks) later. Only thing aimed at you is my need for my b3 to follow the same path and somebody to play the middle in for me :)
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It would defeat the main purpose of the forum lol .
As a batmaker it must be equally annoying when some little kid starts whining about his bat not going like the clappers from Day 1. Particularly when you know he is rubbish and has'nt even tried to knock it in properly.
That's why all of mine come match ready! ;)
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In fact Redders, you sticking with your RPC shows what happens when a bat get's better over time!
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That's why all of mine come match ready! ;)
Try them all out for a few games and give them a crafty refurb, like it ;)
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pah - this is what I think to this
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/29/article-2151602-135745F2000005DC-914_634x726.jpg)
(http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2013/11/05/1226753/740581-131106-s-alastair-cook.jpg)
(http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/2012/3/aed5c197-1123-4d0d-956c-fbf0c1f5ab46HiRes.JPG)
just buy a new bat.
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When I was a kid my mate had a Duncan Fearnley that was absolutely horrible brand new. Back in those days a parent wouldn't go out and buy you a new bat just because you didn't like your one. He practically spent years knocking it in and all of a sudden it opened up and to this day it had the best middle I have ever used.
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In fact Redders, you sticking with your RPC shows what happens when a bat get's better over time!
Yer that's true. My RPC is coming into its 3rd season and gets better every single game
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Try them all out for a few games and give them a crafty refurb, like it ;)
Pretty much!
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Oh Lor! Guilty on all counts. - and ain't it the worst when you loan a non performing stick to a teammate and he creams the leather off the ball from the get go... :o
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in the early days my current match bat had an amazing middle but anything off centre slightly lacked some power. it was knocked in and just needed more time. I could have made myself another but stuck with it and about a month into last season ( its first) it started flying all over. will be having a nice refurb and new stickers applied before the season starts and im glad i didnt ditch it and start again. Yes you may be lucky and get a bat that flies from ball one but dont bin one if it doesnt. Unless its a complete plank it should come good with a little care and attention
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You make a very valid point.
Looking at it, there are many reasons people trade bats like billy-o.
One could laundry list, but I think an underlying cause is the rampant consumerism we are dowsed in on a daily basis.
People want it 'now'.
Short term expectations and even shorter time horizons have been fueled by the free flow and access to information and credit.
Still, whilst your point is solid, many will get swept-up in the latest profile/sticker/brand and pile in. Which is good news for entrepreneurs.
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It's amazing how impatient people get with their bats. Expecting the bat to perform without properly knocking it in is rampant, at least from my experience. And yes, when somebody is scoring alot, they say he's got a gun of a bat. But I believe it the batsman and not the bat.
I sold one of my teammates a brand new SS Ton KP Players and he removed the celophane wrap and was taking it right into the nets. He said he wanted to get a feel of it (really...!!??) and I told him not to do that without proper preparation.
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I gave my Laver a year, including a full season of use before i evaluated it. I just tried to find the link to the topic i made, but it appears L&W are no longer sponsoring the forum....?
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Or if you have the cash, you can just keep buying them until you find one that goes from ball 1 ;)
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it amazes me that people can ditch a bat after facing a bowling machine ball and scoring less than 300 runs. I wasnt overly impressed with my MH Distinction until after about 500 runs then i was hitting 6's by accident.
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I gave my Laver a year, including a full season of use before i evaluated it. I just tried to find the link to the topic i made, but it appears L&W are no longer sponsoring the forum....?
i thought another sponsor had bit the dust but couldnt see who
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I just hit 1000 machine balls before using it in matches..that modems it up nicely
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4. Middle not in the right place - you have to hit it first, I've used the crictech sheets and my middle can go a long time before seeing some action. I can bat a bit as well.
This is actually the biggest of all misconception amongst gear freaks. I reckon I'm a pretty decent player, at least up to a level, and have always been technically decent. And I always bought low middle bats - the lower the better - because I felt that I hit the ball down toward the toe for most of my preferred shots. But batting with one of the crictech sheets - in a pre season friendly at Vine Lane - showed that I hit a disproportionate number of balls in the top half of the visible blade, with the middle position of a Distinction or Amplus style blade more suited to my game. Tested this again three nets, found the same each time...
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i thought another sponsor had bit the dust but couldnt see who
Laver went a few weeks back, moving on in a different direction. It's a shame old threads get removed.
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it amazes me that people can ditch a bat after facing a bowling machine ball and scoring less than 300 runs. I wasnt overly impressed with my MH Distinction until after about 500 runs then i was hitting 6's by accident.
Mine should be good by 2039 then :(
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Surely using a machine is the best test for how you're getting along with a bat (rather than how the bat is doing on its own)? If you don't feel like you're absolutely smashing those plastic balls then you're probably not getting the bat to the right place. Massive props to retailers with a net out the back!
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When you think about it ideally a cricket ball should travel further than a plastic machine ball so the only real test imo is facing some bowlers and a sidearm. However bowling machines do help to play the bat in
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I managed to buy a kookaburra kahuna 1000 from a team mate who dubbed it as a "dead bat" for £50 I took the scuff sheet of knocked it in oiled and knocked for about 6 more hours and after 2 nets in just opened up and now has the best middle on a bat I've ever used
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Another point to note is that knocking in uses a decent amount of force and should be done correctly, otherwise you'll think you've knocked it in, when u haven't.
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Patience is a virtue when knocking in bats.
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It's amazing how impatient people get with their bats. Expecting the bat to perform without properly knocking it in is rampant, at least from my experience. And yes, when somebody is scoring alot, they say he's got a gun of a bat. But I believe it the batsman and not the bat.
I sold one of my teammates a brand new SS Ton KP Players and he removed the celophane wrap and was taking it right into the nets. He said he wanted to get a feel of it (really...!!??) and I told him not to do that without proper preparation.
I have a similar story that happened this week.
I'm selling a puma bat and tweeted it to my team mates, one arrives at my house wed evening and says "interested in buying the puma bat, but want to net with it tonight to see if I like it"
"It's not knocked in dude" was my reply.
His "and? What harm can it do"
Arrggghh, philistine! Lol
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I have a similar story that happened this week.
I'm selling a puma bat and tweeted it to my team mates, one arrives at my house wed evening and says "interested in buying the puma bat, but want to net with it tonight to see if I like it"
"It's not knocked in dude" was my reply.
His "and? What harm can it do"
Arrggghh, philistine! Lol
Had the same with a club mate. £30 JJB offer on a 505 GM Hero brand new. Show the bat to a team mate and he says, "I'll have a net with it and if that goes ok, use it in a game and I'l let you know after that". I wasn't impressed with his suggestion of making it worth less than it was already.
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Had the same with a club mate. £30 JJB offer on a 505 GM Hero brand new. Show the bat to a team mate and he says, "I'll have a net with it and if that goes ok, use it in a game and I'l let you know after that". I wasn't impressed with his suggestion of making it worth less than it was already.
Even worse than that, the guy you will see with me on the AOC gear test, I got him a blank CA 10000 last season (He's a student).
Played like a plank for 2 weeks, I couldn't understand why. Then I was stood around explaining to the youngsters that knocking in makes a huge difference to performance and longevity of the bat, when he turns to me and says "do you think I should knock it in then?".
At which point, I snatched the bat off him and, took it away myself to knock in for a few hours. He went on to score over 1500 runs with it after that, including some monster 6s in a top score of 161*.
Still tells people I sold him a dodgy bat! I can't write here what I said...