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[Komdotkom]

On my recent trip to NZ my son and I dropped in to see James at Laver&Wood to order a new bat for the 2020/21 season. I've got far too many bats, but my 12 year old son only has 5 so it was clear to me that this situation needed to be rectified.
Even though it was early January James was in the showroom and we went through the fitting and weighting process for nearly an hour while I fondled the other bats there. James recommended the Special profile for my young bloke and we decided on 2lb2oz as the desired weight fully dressed. This bat is a harrow in overall length but has a SH handle and slightly shorter blade, my son is a dirty slogger like me and likes the longer handle. James was running a special offer so Special Reserve grade willow was the same price as Legend grade so we took him up on that. Stickers are the red carbon model, round handle.
The bat arrived about 3 weeks later, well packed as always from L&W and in one of their new cases/bags which is a really nice bit of gear. For a minute I did consider swapping this for the green standard cover on my Laver but knowing how rough kids are it probably needs the extra protection.
As always the finishing is pretty good on the bat with only the finest sanding marks visible if you look on a specific angle, I'd give it 8/10 but falls short of the Northen Monkey high gloss finish! Weight is spot on and the balance is good with a bit of a duck bill helping the pick up.
The willow is not pretty, it's essentially 4 grains across the face, uneven and wobbly with some colour on the edge and a small pin knot higher up the bat out of the playing area. The bat was knocked by L&W but still feels very hard and will need quite a bit of playing in, response with the ball and mallet isn't great and falls well short of my son's current match bat which is only 2.0lb. I expect this with Laver's so I'll reserve my judgement on the performance until it's been properly played in, it took months until mine properly came to life.
All in all it's a very well made bat and my son loves it, I can see plenty of throw downs on my future though.

[AJ2014]

4 grains? don't know what you paid for it, northern monkey would definitely have given you more!

[nivaga]

but my 12 year old son only has 5 so it was clear to me that this situation needed to be rectified.

lol  ... sounds like me ... (re-)living my love of cricket through my 13 year old son.

Only difference is that he is nothing like me and definitely not a "dirty slogger" ... an infinitely improved model. 

...But i can live with that as long as I get to help him acquire new gear