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[Australian fast bowler]

Cheaper option is buy a dense Kashmir willow bat and see if it is worse. In theory lower density willow should be *better* for a variety of theoretical reasons but the final product of a variable material and process is exactly that. A guy I net with picked up the cheapest Kashmir bat he liked the stickers of in the local sports shop and ball comes off that thing better than any bat I've seen. Probably a bit of a freak but still shows bats are pretty individual things *

Back on topic, silly price for a bit of wood but if it makes someone happy then hey

* unless we talk about GM consistency

No reason why a Kashmir willow bat cant ping as good as a English willow, if pressed correctly. Is like the people who have experimented with Canadian and similar types of willow.
In my experience, Canadian willow is some of the best performing willow running around, it however has the draw back of a lack of durability, i bought a few a couple of years back, they performed as good as anything, some lasted 6 months, some lasted 6 days but never could fault the performance of the bat in any way.

At the end of the day we all have opinions and theories and this is why we are on the forum, is one view better than the other, in some instances but everyone will want different things.

[Australian fast bowler]

Supply and demand.

Demand is high but from what I've read, it would seem supply is not what it once was? So demand high but supply low = high prices.

Sponsorship deals increasing every year don't help either

Disagree on the demand, the game is essentially dying all over the globe, yes t20 is taking off a bit but really the test crowds show how cricket is really going. Ive been buying willow for close on 10 years direct from manufacturers and the price has not changed as much as the Major companies like you to think and i have been buying on and ultra small scale. Assuming major companies also get direct willow from JSW which would be cheaper than me buying from a merchant, their prices are even more outrageous. You purely pay the players to use their set of stickers.
Then the ones will argue labour costs have increased which is again crap as 95% of the worlds gear is made in India for pittance.

I believe supply is there as well, just companies wanting the so called "ideal " clean bits of timber to sell

rant over sorry

[Shinpathy]

Pricing is getting crazier as they can be.
Food for thought :
Bats are still being made from the same willows
As ever.
No new variety or grades have been discovered
As yet.
If the new ones are the best willows, then last
Year and before and before..... which were those willows??
Are these bats just meant for rich brats to brag as the
Proud limited owners
World knows now India is super power in making bats for
Most brands world wide!!! Still people want to spend for stickers
$1500 come on still can digest ......

Absokutely spot on

[Biggie Smalls]

Disagree on the demand, the game is essentially dying all over the globe, yes t20 is taking off a bit but really the test crowds show how cricket is really going. Ive been buying willow for close on 10 years direct from manufacturers and the price has not changed as much as the Major companies like you to think and i have been buying on and ultra small scale. Assuming major companies also get direct willow from JSW which would be cheaper than me buying from a merchant, their prices are even more outrageous. You purely pay the players to use their set of stickers.
Then the ones will argue labour costs have increased which is again crap as 95% of the worlds gear is made in India for pittance.

I believe supply is there as well, just companies wanting the so called "ideal " clean bits of timber to sell

rant over sorry
[/quote





no need for apologies,  i liked that rant !

[Australian fast bowler]

HAHAHA! just a bloke who is sick of seeing bats and brands being tarnished all because of misinformation and ridiculous marketing

[adb club cricketer]

Disagree on the demand, the game is essentially dying all over the globe, yes t20 is taking off a bit but really the test crowds show how cricket is really going.

Well, even if test cricket is dying, in terms of number of folks picking up the game, there is no data to show that has reduced, T20 has brought in many more people into the game for sure, whether it made up for the loss in numbers from test cricket is anyone's guess. However, my personal feel from "experience around" is that more people are in fact into cricket now and T20 and the big hitting/over abundance of dried clefts has made modern bats' life shorter compared to older days and i do think it is possible demand is high...this could only be to the middle and lower end ranges of bats, not really sure about the demand of the high end bats, less than 5% of folks i see around use the really high end bats.

[potzy248]

$450 less in NZ 

http://www.playerssports.co.nz/cricket/product/7507/kookaburra-kahuna-pro-khawaja

[Shinpathy]

Knowing GCCC they will probably drop the price when the season draws nearer/starts... They are just trying to milk as much money out of the early birds as possible as always.

[well past my peak]

Knowing GCCC they will probably drop the price when the season draws nearer/starts... They are just trying to milk as much money out of the early birds as possible as always.

Ok so GCCC  manage to sell this bat to Mr Sucker for $1500, how do you think the the cake is sliced?
SG- $200
Kooka Aus $ 800
GCCC $500

[Neon Cricket]

Ok so GCCC  manage to sell this bat to Mr Sucker for $1500, how do you think the the cake is sliced?
SG- $200
Kooka Aus $ 800
GCCC $500

Probably not miles off, I would've thought the amount paid to SG is slightly higher but it's still going to be a whacking great mark-up for Kookaburra at $1500.

[GoodLeave]

Ok so GCCC  manage to sell this bat to Mr Sucker for $1500, how do you think the the cake is sliced?
SG- $200
Kooka Aus $ 800
GCCC $500

I think you're about right. Seems like Kooka are raking it in, but when you consider how much they have to pay out in sponsorship, it's probably not as lucrative as it seems.

[prim0pyr0]

Two mid level kook/sg bats, both 2.9 pickup on ghost better. minimal concaving, slightly more in the ghost. Edge 39mm spine is ~60mm Pressing is not overdone, good ping. better performance to price ratio than other brands id say