Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Reviews => Topic started by: alexrickyponting on August 09, 2010, 01:01:38 PM
-
Today i had the mixed blessing of cycling to redbourne to get my unknown slazenger re-handled after it started breaking more yesterday after my 75 :) Picked up a blank to do air-shots with while trying on some P1 Strippers(very comfy) and it felt beautiful.
Ive never been very keen on Choice before but i beat back my prejudice to enquire as to the price-tag and weight of the bat out of curiosity. just under 2.8 with one grip on and a mere 120 of the queens english pounds. I pointed out to my dad it was a saving of over £100 on the warsop i was going to get and the bat was mine!
It has 10 pretty straight grains, inside edge is a shade of heartwood with 2 small stains but choice call it grade 1. They had done 80% of the knocking in on it apparantly so i have an hour left then ill be off the the nets later :) oh and it has bang on 30mm edges, 15mm at the toe.
Im a very happy chappy exept my dad decided to brake VERY suddenly on his bike thus sending me over the handle-bars into a roundabout OUCH! >:(
-
Sounds like you have done well - am I right in saying that Choice do a £120 bat which are imported from Pakistan and a more expensive bat which are made in the uk?
A couple of my team mates use them and they are big old bats - and excellent value for money. Show us the photo's!
-
I listed the same model bat in my topic fella - very nice bats!
-
I go up to Choice quite a lot, even though Cricket Direct is much more local to me, to buy bits and bobs. They do make some very nice looking bats - there are loads around the Hertfordshire Leagues where I play. Have never tapped one up myself, but picked a few up in the shop and they feel very nice indeed.
-
i have no idea if its english or not, they do custom made ones from 120 to 180 depending on grade. the shoulders on this were different from a lot of the other stickered up bats so you are probably right.
pics will be up soon, i was just taking them, and theres a 50p for norbs :D
yeah ive seen loads of them too, which team do you play for mdl, saracens herts league yes?
sounds promising pete :)
-
Old Haberdashers in Div 5. Having a shocking season both personally and as a team. We've had the oppo 9 down at the end of the game 4 times this season.
-
i think ive played old haberdashers once for rickmansworth, would have been in a much lower division though lol, im in div 10 :( for boxmoor 2's, hopefully be promted this year, we were top of the table till 3 weeks ago and we lost the last three in a row! we cant finish teams of either atm unfortunately we get them to 35-4 50-6 etc then they get 230
-
i think ive played old haberdashers once for rickmansworth, would have been in a much lower division though lol, im in div 10 :( for boxmoor 2's, hopefully be promted this year, we were top of the table till 3 weeks ago and we lost the last three in a row! we cant finish teams of either atm unfortunately we get them to 35-4 50-6 etc then they get 230
Aaah - you probabaly played our 2s then - they are in Division 9 currently
-
sounds about right, nice bunch if i remember though i would have been about 13 lol
-
here we go:
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100745.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100748.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100749.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100750.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100751.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100752.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100754.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100756.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100757.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100759.jpg)
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100762.jpg)
for norbs:
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100764.jpg)
and my attempt at petehosks fancy photography!
(http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx71/pineapple55/Choice%20Willow/H1100763.jpg)
-
lovely looking bat the profile looks close to my laver special lovely
-
Looks like my old Ayrtek, R.I.P :(
-
so the profiles a winner then :)
-
the whole thing looks nice mate and for 120 pound you can not grumble at all i love it
-
Looks like a decent Larsons made bat. Nice profile and grains on it, lets hope it does you proud!
-
thanks lads
sillysillyshilly! im trying to pretend in my head its made in england. ssssshh ;)
-
why does it matter indian bats are on bar and many are better than english made
-
cos im weird basically
i have nothing against indian makes btw
-
felt really good in the net sehs today - rained off yesterday :(
took a bit of adjustment but bring on the weekend!
popped down to guildford for surrey/sussex today and ramprakash the living legend signed the back of it, said it felt really nice and asked me about choice willow and where they are etc! :D
-
Looks like a decent Larsons made bat. Nice profile and grains on it, lets hope it does you proud!
I know it's been a while but slight update, this bat has been retired now due to height issues (me not stopping growing!) but was very good value in the end. Scored 700 runs or so in 2/3rds of a season with plenty of life left in it and the only issue i had was with the round handle rotating in the hands a bit. I also noticed it was pressed fairly hard compared to previous bats i have used, not a criticism merely observation.
Anyway the main purpose of my post, I was down at choice willow today for a session with Mark Ramprakash and had a chat with one of the Choice Willow guys. He confirmed that the cheaper bats without a "made in england" sticker are Larsons made from Choice's willow they send over.
I also asked about Vantage/Salix Dan and the response to whether he was any good while at Choice was "can i pass on that please" which i thought a little surprising given reviews. Maybe he left upon bad terms? Who can say..