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[stevie]

Do people sponsored by overseas brands like Kookaburra get a certain amount of bats sent over from India each year or do they get local bat makers to make them and then put the sticker's on the bats?

[Arthur]

Kookaburra have a factory in the UK...

[Tom]

Where's their factory and do they manufacture bats? Or just refurb?

Is it where 3D Sports is?

[Arthur]

I don't know for definite, I just figured they must do because people send their bats off to get refurbed all the time, and they are also a major company in this country, so not having one wouldn't make much sense.

[Tom]

Not having a factory makes great business sense. Woodworm for example have only approx 10 employees. If they had a factory making their own bats that would increase massively, they'd also have to pay out for the land for it, employ skilled batmakers and other overheads. Instead they outsource it to China, India and other companies. I think it's Hunts County doing the refurbs on their behalf, they sell 40,000 odd bats a year so they're not doing bad bad without their own factory.

I was under the impression Kookaburra were purely a brand (although they used to make bats alongside GN until around 1990, when all were moved abroad), with the exception of the Kookaburra & Reader balls which may be made in Aus & England. I wouldn't be suprised if they had a small workshop for refurbs but didn't think they'd have anything like a factory.

[Anon]

i heard from someone who was from SA that when australia went over there...at some point when the Waugh brothers were playing, that about 8 of the test players went to D and P i believe it was or maybe another bat maker and got 3-4 bats made for each of them, made blank, so they could put their sponsor's stickers on them

[yvk3103]

Yes, D&P did supply some bats to the Eng and SA teams. Still do for many SA players. Know this as I had bought a bat from D&P earlier this year and they did mention something on the above lines.

I have seen may touring sides getting bats fron one or two local batmakers (in the visiting country) especially if it is a long series. Many Eng, SA, Aus players have got their bats made from Indian cos when travelling. Indian players also do the same, Sachin got his bats from L&W, Julina. MS Dhoni played with Fusions

[yvk3103]

Having a manufacturing unit for bats is not important. More important is the marketing and perception building activities.

I would spend my money on the above rather than set-up a bat making unit.

There are many excellent and good qulaity bat makers to choose from (especially India).

Woodworms are made by SS in India and Hunts in the UK, Kookaburra by SG in India, BAS also makes for some companies.

The willow is the same...supplied by the same co. (infact there's only one).

Most of the cricket accessories come from low cost countries like India and Pakistan.