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[petehosk]

Has he ever used a legit Puma?
Every time I have seen him there have been the tell-tale sign of the plasters stuck on the edges of the bats where the 'TON' usually is.


And on a couple of occasions he's even left the plasters off.

[Joe]

Can't the TON be sanded off?

[petehosk]

He is a decent player and I'm not trying to pick on him, but what does everyone think of a player being sponsored by a company to use a brand but then using another brand in disguise? I know it goes on a lot, but what are people's thoughts on the practice?

[petehosk]

It's branded in and indented so no - can't be sanded out

[Simmy]

it can be sanded out they are only branded about 2mm

i sanded the ayrtek 1's out of my lam when i put puma stickers on

[petehosk]

And I'm sure that Tiwary will spend time and effort sanding all the bats he gets from SS, as he has so much free time to do that! Seriously 

So what are everyones thoughts on this common practice?

[tbarnfield99]

I don't think many people are actually aware that this goes on. If I asked half of my teammates they would just instantly presume that if a Puma sponsored player is using a bat with Puma sticker on then it surely must be a Puma!

[petehosk]

But one point is that some people would buy a bat because their favourite players uses that puma! When in reality they use something totally different. So is that fair for example?

[Number4]

Lets face it though... This has been going on for years and years it certainly isn't a new thing and I wouldn't just point the finger at one player in particular

[Joe]

I think Michael Clarke's Slazenger is actually a Laver.

[Number4]

I think Michael Clarke's Slazenger is actually a Laver.

 Any evidence to back that one up?

[Johnny]

The thing is with that Clarke rumour ^ is that you can't really prove it.

I know that at one point in his career NZ batsman Matt Sinclair used Laver bats, even though he was GM sponsored at the time. I'm fairly certain that Ian Bell has used a Fusion made bat previously, and also that Matt Prior has used Newbery. However, if all of the above is true, at least there is an air of mystery about it - it's all hush hush and hearsay - that's very different to what the Indian and Pakistani boys do - take the big bucks from a sponsor, but then show up with brandings like TON and SG all over the shop

[Number4]

I don't see the difference really... As pete said someone is buying bats cause their fav player is using one... whether the makers stamp is on the edge or not they are still taking money from the sponsor aren't they.

If anything they are being more open about what they use by showing the makers stamp on the edge aren't they?

[langer17]

I don't see the difference really... As pete said someone is buying bats cause their fav player is using one... whether the makers stamp is on the edge or not they are still taking money from the sponsor aren't they.

If anything they are being more open about what they use by showing the makers stamp on the edge aren't they?

Not really, as we may know what the TON logo means and who SS are, but I highly doubt that many would know about SS, especially if the bat is stickered as something else but has the TON logo still on.

Look at Australia, prior to this year only 1 major cricket specialist stocked SS bats and that was Kingsgrove in NSW. GCCC stocks them as well now, so more exposure for them.

Four brands which aren't really known in Australia are SS, BAS, CA and SG, and they would probably make alot of the well known brand bats between them. Even Adidas isn't really known in Australia, and I can olny think of only one first class player in Steven Okeefe (NSW Captain) who uses their gear.

[jw17]

One of the oddest things i saw was Chad Keegan coming in to the chalet at the same time as me and picking up some Newbery made SS bats which all seemed the wrong way round to me!