Afternoon all, not been on the forum for quite a while but when I had two bats crack in the shoulder recently I thought I best get back on to see what was out there. I spoke to Paul at Aldred and was extremely tempted by them, as well as the GM Chad was selling. However, as I was potentially after a couple of bats, I had second thoughts about buying blind as such. I then remembered about Crown Sports who had been mentioned on here a while back and remembered they were North-East based. I found a number for them and gave them a call as they’re based only a 20 minute drive from me.
We discussed a few things and then I arranged to go and visit, which I did on Wednesday. I had the intention of going to see what they had in and potentially have a shape copied. When I arrived there was plenty of choice of pre made bats and Chris quickly got the cream of the crop out. Massive understatement to say I was extremely impressed with the size of these bats and the response of them. I had the intention to get at least one made up but Chris had said that the best willow he had was in these pre made bats he had available. Nevertheless, I still went and checked out his workshop which was impressive and I had a good look around. He got a few of the clefts/handled clefts that he had in out but was very honest and said these were the heavier clefts and wouldn’t get the size for the weight I had been talking about.
I went back to his office to rummage through the ones he had made up. I could have been there much longer but got it down to 3 bats. The shape probably had a bit more concaving than I would go for normally but the size and response of these bats definitely swayed my mind. I soon realised that I would be leaving the place with 2 bats. I spent a good 15/20 minutes swinging and tapping up these 3 bats but I am extremely happy with the pair of bats I left with. The stickers are also new for this year. Enough of me speaking…
Bat 1
Weight: 2lb 10.6
Edge size: 40mm
Grains: approx 17
I’m all for supporting the smaller/handmade bat makers and really glad I could go and visit myself to check Crown out. Definitely a brand that lots of you probably won’t know much about if you’re not from the North-East. They don’t have a website at the minute but Chris said that’s something they’re hoping to sort in the near future. If you would like to know anything or any contact details for Crown, just ask!
Chris also sorted out a shoulder repair for me, a super job and just been to pick it up this morning.
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Topic: Crown Sports - 2 new bats (Read 2616 times)