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[Tom]

Been done to death before on here and Cricket Insight.

But in short there's 24+ grades of willow which bat makers can buy, 4 grades of willow on the shelves. A hell of a lot of upgrading (and downgrading) goes on.

Each bat company has their own grading specification, often unrelated to the grade the cleft was bought as.

[Visigoth]

He seems to be a very nice young man, and I'm commenting on the price increase and not him or his bats. As a hobbyist maker he may well be trying to curtail demand. So, according to his own site he has just been at this for one year. Drawing on my bamboo fly rod experience I liked the idea of getting a bat from a debutante and possibly an up and coming podshaver. I liked the look, the name, and the point of origin, Lincolnshire. I do think that someone just starting out should price his bats below the normal price. It worked--he got quite a few orders because people are willing to take a risk if the price is a tad lower. If such a maker puts his price up to the going rate then why spend that money on someone who has been at it one year? He should keep his prices low and get as many bats into as many hands as possible. If he is good at what he does, word of mouth will do the rest and he can up his rates. I suppose I was lucky to have paid before the price increase.

[tim2000s]

FYI, Jamie's Great Britain tonight features Jamie using one of these bats in a cricket match at Burghley in Lincolnshire.

[Joe]

Has anyones bats arrived, or seen any pictures etc?

[19reading87]

Seem to be taking a good while....