So, on Sunday the sky was blue and I was left to my own devices.
To kill some time, a mate and me decided to go for a quick jaunt to Swindon, eat some chicken and then watch some wendyball.
Now, Asad's place is filled to the rafters will very good quality bats and boxes to rummage through.
I had no intention to get anything, a familiar lament. "You only need one bat."
Asad was keen to show off his Uzi bats and you can tell why. Very big for the weight (some, like the Misbah May bat defy physics) and generally nice looking, but out of my price range. "You've really been enjoying the Redback."
I had a bit of a dig in between chewing the fat about who made this and that etc. to be honest, there are a heck of a lot of bats in there and it's easy to lose sense of what's better than what. I started with the BAS blanks (nice and big, pingy but a need a buff), an SS G2 that picked up like a dream but felt quite hard, and a Black Mamba that redefined everything. So, I wasn't going to spend £350 so I started trying on back to front gloves and looking at pics of the new softs. "gloves, essentially are boring, look at the wood." ASad even pretended to be interested in my Pittards preference or lack thereof.
Then, this caught my eye. "Bats, I need bats."
By the law of averages, there will always be a great bat among all that wood. I found it. This is atrocious - 2.10 on my scales apparently – it felt right. It was MADE for me. The handle is lovely and the balance is super. Edges are a nice size and probably more concaving than the current ideal. Sixish very clean grains and the initial rebound from bouncing a ball is truly something. If I were Homer Simpson, this would be wonder bat (maybe).
I really, really like it. I genuinely couldn't leave it. I'm sure Asad will tell you what I was like with the thing. "Should I get two?"
My mate is a tart (scared of his missus). He left with nothing. Not even a bargain Malik LE, tatty though it was.... "Maybe for slogging?...."