Hello all,
One of our players (Devon Endersby) has had a Summer contract with Sussex for the past 2 years. He played plenty of second team cricket and was 12th man in the T20 a number of times this season, including for Luke Wrights 153*
I have repaired plenty of Devs bats over the past couple of seasons and it seems my work caught the eye of Will Beer who had broken the lovely bat you can see in the photos below, shoulder damage. He gave it to Dev to give to me, i glued everything up and also added some binding for a bit of extra strength. I was never quite sure why Will didn't get his sponsors to fix the bat or give him a new one but there we go.
Dev is now in Australia, perhaps permanently, and appears unobtainable having tried a few times. Will himself hasn't responded to our messages to him using various methods including in public on twitter. Presumably he either doesn't want to pay for the repair or no longer wants the bat. Either way i have been trying for about 4 months and have now given up. I have decided that as a money making exercise for the youth section of my cricket club, i will sell this bat via a blind auction. This is your opportunity to own a genuine professional players bat (ie not one that 'was for a pro but they discarded') that according to Dev (he has no reason to lie to me) Will Beer used to hit quite a few boundaries in the T20 competition last year, and definitely including these 2 innings:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/scorecard/o37005http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/scorecard/o36944The SH bat weighs just over 2'8 including single grip, toe guard, counter balance tape on the handle, hammer edge sheet and the glue/binding repair on the shoulder. A massive profile with very little concaving and approx 18 grains. The ping as expected is absolutely brilliant, as is the pickup. It was stickered as a Newbery Tour when it arrived to me.
There are no guarantees with this bat obviously as it is used and repaired, but i am confident it will hold together for a while yet.
If the bidding goes over £100 (which i hope/expect it to) then i will refurb the bat entirely for free. I have only fixed the shoulder area thus far as i wasn't sure it was doable until i started, i felt there was no point tidying up the blade first if the damage couldn't be fixed. Once fixed I contacted Will to say the bat had been saved and that I would refurb it for him too at 'x' price, but haven't heard back so haven't done any more to it.
The bat will be posted for free inside the UK, if you win the bat and are located elsewhere i will find the best shipping quote i can for you.
I am going to start the bidding at £50. If you would like to outbid me please send me a PM. Every time the bidding goes up i will post on the topic with the new high amount, with the winning bidders payment going towards something (as yet undecided) for the kids at my cricket club
Bidding will end at 9pm on Friday the 13th of Feb! Best of luck guys.
Jake