Afternoon Gents,
After returning to cricket after a 6 year absence, I decided to start off with my 10+ year old Kookaburra Big Kahuna, (this beast has served me well over the years) rather than the Hell4Leather Warbird I picked up in the winter. With the tracks bit damp and the weather being a bit soggy in general this seemed a no brainier and proved a good decision as my first innings back yielded 64 runs (only in the 2s but a fifty is a fifty!). Second time out I was on 17 after about 9 balls when I looked down and saw the splice had popped out on the face, the bat was not the only one suffering as I retired hurt in the next over having pulled my hamstring. On closer inspection, a split through the toe and a crack I'd recently repaired had opened right up and run up the edge. Repairable? Most definitely, but I think the old girl has basically given up, probably got a bit dry at some point sat in the garage and needed looking after earlier than I did, having thought I was done with cricket I'd pretty much dumped my kit as it was at my parents house. She was still going as sweet as a nut even after she was damaged, so I'll remember her as she was, serving me well until the end rather than reanimating with tape and glue and growing to resent her.
Anyhow, I like to have at least two bats in the bag so had a bit of a look around for a replacement. My return to cricket has required a full set of kit, so I've taken advantage of some cracking deals at the back end of last year (H4L Warbird, NV gloves and pads) and in the last few weeks (couple of sets of North Gear whites, very cheap). Continuing my bargain tour I found Mongoose who I thought had disappeared years ago, but have since been enlightened with their story.
At £70 for a COR3 Premium, I couldn't resist and got in touch with Tom for a bit of a chat followed by ordering from the Mongoose website. I specifically requested 2lb 10/11 and asked if there was any possibility of delivering today as I already had the day off work, it all went a bit quiet and my order showed as "processing" right up until this morning until I noticed it said "completed". Shortly after noticing this there was a knock at the door and my order had arrived, it is hard to be critical of this when I got exactly what I wanted but an email to confirm wouldn't have gone amiss.
The BatOverview
Edges
Face
Back
As you can see, it is a decent looking bat, big profile and whilst perhaps not the most beautiful looking face, the 8 grains are nice and straight, which is more valuable than perfect blemish free pale wood. Let's be honest, you don't look at the face when you are carting the opening bowler over cow corner anyway (not a euphemism). It is surprsingly soft which is nice, looks to be well pressed and taps up pretty well.
SpecsEdge: 37mm
Spine: 57mm
Grains: 8
Dead Weight: 2lb 9oz
The edge/spine figures are a bit of a false measure with this bat, the toe is massive and the hitting zone goes right up to near the shoulders. There is a lot of concaving on the back but given the size of the hitting zone this is somewhat inevitable. As a none standard bat, expect the measurements to be none standard or at least look a bit different to he 'normal' bat in your bag.
I'd asked for 2lb 10/11 so it comes in a little under that, however having flailed it around the living room for a bit (38 not out so far, only dropped once) it feels about right so a stroke of luck.
Stickers and finishI'll be honest, the stickers are actually better than I expected, neat enough with a bit of silver in there. I am not going to pretend they are ground breaking or up there with the best ones around but clean, pretty enough and well applied is the order of the day here.
This is where things take a small dip, the bat has clearly had a few knocks around the toe, I can probably get them out with a bit of steam and we are only talking cosmetics here. The one that goes onto the face is a bit of a shame but once I've batted a bit it'll look a lot worse anyway!
The grip is a few centimetres short of the top of the handle, might be a bit picky here but it just looks a bit scruffy.
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ConclusionLet's not beat around the bush, very happy and at the price point a bit of a steal, you're simply not buying a bat of this sort of quality and price anywhere else at the moment. Lacking a bit of polish and a slightly hit and miss ordering process, criticising what is an otherwise nice and incredibly cheap bat for these reasons would be unnecessarily picky. For 70 quid it looks a cracker, delivered in less than a week, what more could anybody want? Performance remains to be seen and a few taps with a mallet is not enough to make any kind of fair estimation although initial signs are very promising, given that the selling point here is an extended hitting area and greater bat speed, judging by mallet would insult the technology.
I also bought the Super Premium bag which at £30 looks a bargain, I seem to have acquired as much kit in 6 months as I did in 20+ years before my self imposed break. The bag looks like it can handle it.
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Topic: Mongoose COR3 Premium (Read 18315 times)