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[ItsJustCricket]

This afternoon I ventured to the Medway City Estate in Rochester, Kent, where Spartan have recently acquired some warehouse space.  They have just received a big new batch of bats, and I was pleased to be informed that we were one of the first shops to get our hands on them!  The bats included the brand new MS Dhoni range...

Here are some photos and commentary of the day...

[Simmy]

no photos? lol

[SOULMAN1012]

That's very close to wear I live, maybe a little venture is on the cards?

[iand123]

literally 5 minutes from me...... might have to pop down / break in

[Blank Bats]

Where's the pics? Tease........

[ItsJustCricket]

Although they have only been there for a couple of months or so, the place is very organised and I felt the visitor experience was superior to other similar warehouse venues i.e. Kookaburra, Slazenger and Gray-Nicolls.  There's basically one warehouse worth of softs, and a side room where they have moved all the bats. This made everything very easy to find and saved time and energy as there was no need to walk constantly up and down narrow aisles likes at the other places.  Here is what they called "the new bat cave", which they said had only been set up a couple of weeks ago in readiness for this big delivery...

[ItsJustCricket]

literally 5 minutes from me...... might have to pop down / break in

I don't think they would allow the public to come in and look at bats, Ian, sorry!

[ItsJustCricket]

And finally, here is the much anticipated MSD bat.  I think the stickers are really cool on these, with each grade having a different colour scheme, and all very loud and brash - I think kids, especially, will go crazy for them!  They look even better in the flesh.  They are currently the only stickers in the Spartan range to be embossed, which is apparently something that the rest of the range will have from next year.  I like the shape too - really balanced pick-up despite a mid-low middle, and minimal concaving too.  Apparently it is a replica of MSD's actual bat...

[shoab68]

Are these made in India?

[ItsJustCricket]

And here are some photos of our bounty, which are due to arrive in our store on Thursday...




Some final observations... Spartan clearly order in a lot of willow, and as such, I felt that their bats generally looked nicer than a lot of other brands' offerings for this year, especially in the top grades.  Not many blemishes or heartwood amongst this lot, especially in the Clarke range.  I also feel that their entry level (4000/5000) bats offer incredible value for money and I was glad to see that they don't have fake face covers, unlike other bats in a similar grade/price point...

Can't wait to get these bats in and then review them on our YouTube channel - stay tuned!! 

[ItsJustCricket]

Are these made in India?

The stickers on the boxes should give you a pretty good idea!! 

[tejasapatel]

Nice bats and nice pictures. Surprised the MSD bat has a good pick up for that shape.

[iand123]

I don't think they would allow the public to come in and look at bats, Ian, sorry!

Break in it is then

[iand123]

Paul - do you know if they plan to change the MC stickers to the yellow luminous version for next year?

[GDP1964]

I see heartwood pops up again and from what I see on this forum its not LIKED ? which I find strange as 90% of the pros that use B&S bats in South Africa always request some heartwood in there bats is this just a SA thing ?