Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Topic started by: Yorkershire on February 06, 2023, 07:46:05 PM
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Was thinking the number of players earning a living from cricket... what are the numbers?
See loads of these players using the usual big brands..
There's no way these brands give every player a custom bat experience... or all of them have 20 grains clean straight clefts...
Many of them.must just buy off the shelf surely... and I'd bet most people.om here have better aesthetic bats...
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Saw something from Alex at GN that said most of the pro players bats would be classed between G2 and G4 if based on appearance. Fact is they are pro’s for a there skills not the piece of willow in there hands
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Don't ruin the myths, @SOULMAN1012 - I like to imagine it's like Ollivanders™ Wand Shop from Harry Potter... The bat picks the pro. ;)
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Don't ruin the myths, @SOULMAN1012 - I like to imagine it's like Ollivanders™ Wand Shop from Harry Potter... The bat picks the pro. ;)
Then the pro says: "But wouldn't it be in the common interest if you were made available on Ebay?"
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Saw something from Alex at GN that said most of the pro players bats would be classed between G2 and G4 if based on appearance. Fact is they are pro’s for a there skills not the piece of willow in there hands
I've also seen a GN video where they wouldn't give a cleft to pros as it would be used to make a Legend bat. Guess it was more profitable to save it and sell it as a Legend then give it a pro. No doubt flagship players may get access to such willow.
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“Rolls out Shane Watson used a Flare 303 example”
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Can of worms here! 😂 What constitutes a 'Pro'? Seen bats offered on Instagram reported to be 'Pro' bats, but have probably been used by some overseas who gets a few quid a game in a division below prem cricket. Also seen a few where it's been advertised as 'Pro bat', but when quizzed it's 'Pro grade, didn't belong to a pro'. Bit naughty imo
Pro's at my club haven't had anything special. One was Kook sponsored, another SS. Both just had whatever bats sent from the factory. We had a few come through or club who are now at counties, again don't get anything special really. County player i know also just requests certain weights and gets a load sent, picks what he wants and sends the others back. But they're just standard bats, not specifically made for him.
I'd wager a genuine 'pro bat' in anyone's hands on here wouldn't increase their average at all, or very little at best.
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Can of worms here! 😂
I'd wager a genuine 'pro bat' in anyone's hands on here wouldn't increase their average at all, or very little at best.
That is crazy talk ... almost asking to be banned... :D :)
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More than a few top players I've seen footage of them using bats that look like something I'd own, just slightly bigger and maybe a bit lighter.
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Cricket bat grading is a bit of a sham to me. No reason why a Legend Gold should cost $1,995 AUD when there are other Aus made GN's that cost $350. If pressed properly, they will perform very similarly.
I currently have an Ayrtek G2 which doesn't look great but boy does it fly off the middle. I certainly wouldn't pay anymore for a prettier bat given it won't perform any better.
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Then the pro says: "But wouldn't it be in the common interest if you were made available on Ebay?"
And then the bat gods carve the pro's name on the majestic willow in black marker pen 🙌
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All the GN "Pro" bats I have seen in NZ for First class players are identical shapes (Full profile) and the only difference would be the weight. When we were in the grip of Covid I know a lot of the guys here couldn't get bats and some were sent off the shelf models. None of them would use them.
A young guy here has just been picked up by GN and he got sent 2 of the pro bats plus all his softs and bag.
Kane on the other hand gets to pick exactly what he wants. There must be a Pro+++++ bin that are just for the big guns.
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Saw something from Alex at GN that said most of the pro players bats would be classed between G2 and G4 if based on appearance. Fact is they are pro’s for a there skills not the piece of willow in there hands
Wouldn't surprise me, with our pros I just go through and pick out the best performing bats in their preferred weight range - grade rarely comes into it (I'd hazard a guess I've supplied more G2/G3 than G1+ to pros). If they're coming into the unit to pick them out then generally it's the same process too.
Thankfully none of them are picky on grain and just want a top performing bat. Ultimately that's what matters for them.
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Was lucky enough to get my hands on a pro CA bat. Only has 6 grains & looks like an eBay special but goes like a rocket. Pro bats will be all about performance. Looks will be for the retail market.
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I'd guess pro bats are about whatever the pro prefers, level dependent of course.
Whether its grains, performance, handle shape, low density, if you're a huge name you'll get what you ask for.
Further down the food chain you go the less power they have and the more likely it is that they have to be happy with whatever the company decides to offer them.
Like most on here I've had a few pro bats through my hands that I believe were actually owned and used by the pro, not just made for. some of them have been huge, some of them have performed really well, some both, but ultimately with the willow and makers we have access to on here they're no different to what you could get by going direct.
However if using a bat made for Root gives you the confidence to score a few more runs then who cares, maybe it's worth a few extra quid :D
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Top players tend to get the pick the rest get sent the rest really.
Seen a few of Stokes pre GM nothing special all went but no great lookers.
Average county player tends to get what he sent !
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Top players tend to get the pick the rest get sent the rest really.
Seen a few of Stokes pre GM nothing special all went but no great lookers.
Average county player tends to get what he sent !
As Dan Lawrence started his cricket at my club, he gave one of our 1st XI players, one of his and one of Ben Stokes' bats; great pick ups and superb middles.
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Top players tend to get the pick the rest get sent the rest really.
Seen a few of Stokes pre GM nothing special all went but no great lookers.
Average county player tends to get what he sent !
I've seen Ben Stokes players bat at a retailer, weight 2lb 12oz, full size, full shape, only sapwood, picked up like 2lb 10oz, 10-12 very straight grains, that's the bat to pay £600 for happily!
Someone promised to came back to buy that bat.
10/10 for that bat.
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The Stokes bat at B3 picked up feather light and was huge for the dead weight. This is the joys of the bat making world.
Would you rather have a bat with 19 ruler straight grains or one with 5 that performs better as a Pro player. I know which camp I’m in if relying on something as the tools of my trade to score runs with.
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The Dan Lawrence bat I posted a picture of clearly wasn't as good looking as pictures we've seen posted of Dan Lawrence Player's Edition shop bats.
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Bats are so good now that I am not sure pro bats are even that much if a thing.
If I hit hundreds of balls a week, I suspect my timing would improve somewhat. Add that to a strength and conditioning regime and specialist range hitting skills the players do now... I genuinely think you could give Harry Brook a kashmir plank and he could still hit sixes.
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Bats are so good now that I am not sure pro bats are even that much if a thing.
If I hit hundreds of balls a week, I suspect my timing would improve somewhat. Add that to a strength and conditioning regime and specialist range hitting skills the players do now... I genuinely think you could give Harry Brook a kashmir plank and he could still hit sixes.
Shh, don't tell everyone! ;)
In all seriousness I completely agree, the fact of the matter is we're talking about people that train multiple days per week to perfect their art - you could put almost any bats in their hands and they'd still score runs. Unfortunately not the case for the majority of us amateurs... :D
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Bats are so good now that I am not sure pro bats are even that much if a thing.
If I hit hundreds of balls a week, I suspect my timing would improve somewhat. Add that to a strength and conditioning regime and specialist range hitting skills the players do now... I genuinely think you could give Harry Brook a kashmir plank and he could still hit sixes.
This. This and more this! 😁 I can hit a decent ball at golf, but give me Rory McIlroys driver and I ain't instantly gaining 100 yards! Same with cricket, pros are pros for a reason.
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Definitely less between a really good bat and a "Pro" bat than people think, I reckon.
We had a lad who'd played professionally in Pakistan with us very briefly and he was impressed with the rebound and pickup on a couple of my bats. He said he'd had bats that had been gifts from guys around the national side as well.
I reckon if you go to a good batmaker and you're willing to pay a fair price and wait for the right cleft to come along you'll get something a professional would be perfectly happy with.
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That isn't to say every so often there are unicorn bats which pick up materially lighter than they have a right to because they come from a really light cleft though. Those bats are the business.
They don't come along very often.
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Top players tend to get the pick the rest get sent the rest really.
Pretty logical conclusion... it was the numbers... if you just take county players alone. Players that may never reach the heights of international cricket but journey men players; there mist be a large number or am I talking complete rubbish? Makes absolute sense they get what we can buy off the shelf...
Hope the coming season helps restart the buzz on the forum... as someone mentioned earlier... its just been Jonny and Soulman and their work of late...
I kind of miss the old TK vs some other batmaker threads... always entertaining, even if there was a lot of uninformed garbage :D
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That isn't to say every so often there are unicorn bats which pick up materially lighter than they have a right to because they come from a really light cleft though. Those bats are the business.
They don't come along very often.
Guess that was the Stoke player's bat I was talking about
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It never fails to surprise that people are prepared to pay a premium for a bat that a professional- who hits thousands of balls with bats every year- has picked up and rejected
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I'd be very disappointed if even the most clueless CBF didn't have at least one bat with a great pick-up and a superb middle.
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It never fails to surprise that people are prepared to pay a premium for a bat that a professional- who hits thousands of balls with bats every year- has picked up and rejected
TBF I think the thinking is if the bat made it to the batch from which a pro is picking from, its assumed it will be better than the bats that were never destined for a pro. I can understand what the attraction is, but I see your point about it being a reject and a true pro bat.
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^ I tend to agree. From a purely performance perspective (looks don’t make a difference) then we’ve all just said, we pick out the best performing bats for our pros, no matter the grade. So would you rather have one of their rejects or what was originally left behind?
And it only makes sense that the big name players get more looked after than those with a ‘lesser’ reputation. If I was GM, I’d look after one of the best players in the world a little bit more than my county academy player. Sorry, but surely that’s just the way it is.
I’m firmly in the camp of paying for more coaching if you want to score more runs over hunting for a pro bat though.
Edited to add: there’s never an exact science of course. I know I’ve sold bats that I just didn’t get on with and seen them score loads more runs, maybe it’s just that with some of the pros. Or maybe they just want a better set of golf clubs and they have a few going spare :D
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Weren't we told (from the horse's mouth) that lesser GM sponsored players were often simply given bats not aesthetically good enough for the shop shelves?
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Maybe they are just made into Radons now...
We should play Radon lottery... see if you can get unveil a 'pro' radon 20 grain sap wood with a knot in the shoulder
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Maybe they are just made into Radons now...
We should play Radon lottery... see if you can get unveil a 'pro' radon 20 grain sap wood with a knot in the shoulder
Don't threaten me with a great CBF thread.
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Don't threaten me with a great CBF thread.
Do it... do it... do it...
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Maybe they are just made into Radons now...
We should play Radon lottery... see if you can get unveil a 'pro' radon 20 grain sap wood with a knot in the shoulder
Said it before - this was one of the greatest threads from several years ago. I think it was Sports Direct slazenger bats. There were some beauties under the paint.
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Said it before - this was one of the greatest threads from several years ago. I think it was Sports Direct slazenger bats. There were some beauties under the paint.
There were some good SD GN ones too, all likely ruined by Photobucket now.
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There should be a 'runs/cost of bat' ratio thread.