Having sat on my hands for what felt like months without purchasing a single iota of willow, other than a couple of vintage bats, it all became too much and eBay and Sales became my friends. The result was that I approached our friends at Stuart Surridge and somebody random and came away with two nice shiny new pieces of willow. Well, when I say shiny, I'd say that perhaps only one is really shiny. The other I'm not even convinced is Willow, but none the less, I though that people would like to see it.
So I succumbed to nostalgia and here is the SS Jumbo. This is the re-released "Retro" bat that SS do. Now on unpacking it, it's clear that this is not the SS Jumbo of olden days. Firstly it has proper, thick edges. Secondly, it has a modicum of concaving thirdly, it is definitely a lower grade willow model and lastly, it has a duck-billed toe.
For reference, this is the shape of an old SS Jumbo:
Well, this most certainly isn't Viv Richard's bat that I've got. It's very much a modern take on an old shape and reminds me a lot of the Powerbow from a couple of seasons past.
The profile is nothing like the old ones had. This particular one weighs in at the grand old weight of 2lb 8oz, so is incredibly light. It also has a surprisingly good rebound. I admit to be very surprised when I bounced a ball off it. For what is the cheap end of the SS bats, it's surprisingly good. The finishing is okay, but the sticker application has not been done very well at all.
All in all, for £135 it's not a bad piece of willow and you could do a lot worse. Granted, it's not the icon you might expect, rather a modernized interpretation, but as net bat or hits and giggles bats, I have little doubt that it would perform more than adequately!
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Topic: Some new (old) willow... (Read 1856 times)