Someone posted this bat in the ebay Bargains thread, and I saw it and thought, I'll have a piece of that. But why would I do that?
Well, there are a couple of reasons. The major one being that I believe this bat to be a bit of a missing link in recent bat evolution (although, as there are plenty of more knowledgable people than me, I could be shot down on that).
Why I hear you ask? Well, if I remember correctly, this bat was introduced around 2007, after the ECB T20 tournament had been in operation for a few years, but prior to IPL coming into existence. The blurb that Kippax put together on the bat was that it had a shorter blade and longer handle specifically to increase bat speed, with
a "Massive Profile", for the destructive middle order batter, which we'll come onto in minute. There was no mention of a bat for T20 style cricket though.
At the time,
I don't recall any other manufacturers doing a similar thing, Newbery had been producing the Uzi for a couple of years, but even during the eighties and nineties, I don't remember there being many experiments with the overall dimensions of the blade and handle, more in the Gray Nicolls fashion of removing wood, drilling holes (thanks Hunts), and other such mechanisms. I'd love to get others views on this, Talisman and Tom ex-mongoose especially. While Newbery were a household name in terms of bat manufacturers, Kippax, I'd suggest, were far less well known. We all know how successful the Uzi has been, and I wonder why this style was less successful?!
Anyway, onto the bat. This is a 2lb 8.6oz bat, so in my book, it's very light. By having the shorter blade though, i expected a massive profile. I do have a SpiriT20 with similar dimensions and that has a huge blade, so I don't think this is unrealistic.
What I got was a little less impressive. Now perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised, after all I have looked at/held/owned a number of Kippax bats, and for their weights, nearly all of them have not had "massive" profiles such as those we see in many bats now. I suspect that Kippax still dry their willow to the 12-15% that has been mentioned and as it's all their own willow, they'll cut it as they want.
In addition, I think that that the Kippax pressing (rather like the Laver pressing) is unique. I've noticed this on others of their bats, and uknsaunders has also noted it. They seem to come out "hard". This one has a reasonably responsive middle but as you get to the areas with less wood, there are a fair few points where it feels pretty dead. Still, I'll give it some knocking in and see how it develops. That may of course be the reason why it was up on ebay for £50.
Anyhow, in terms of answering my own question above, I think the pick-up on this bat isn't great. Although 1/4 lb lighter than the Spirit, it doesn't pick up significantly better. In being hit with the mallet, it feels considerably less forgiving and less powerful, which may be as much to do with the weight difference. Given the design of the Uzi, against which it would have been competing, I don't really think it stood much of a chance! And there we have it, a footnote in history as brands strived to copy another Newbery innovation!
Still, pictures for your delectation, all alongside the SpiriT20 to gain an idea of the comparison, bearing in mind it is a portion of sweets (from an old school sweetshop) lighter than the Spirit.
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Topic: Kippax Tyronica - a forgotten link? (Read 4629 times)