Some lovely sticks on show but I can’t get my thought process away from the old school Newbery Mjolnir shape. A bat from my childhood that whenever I held it it felt right!! Any forum bat makers have one of those to copy?
@Giraffe208 I would highly recommend going to Robert Pack Cricket if you want a proper traditional profiled bat - or go for the Warsop Platinum. The reason why the traditional Mjolnir/Ballistic/JM Classic/Purist bats aren't readily available mainstream is because of the changes to a less rounded face and also because folks want big edges. Get a round faced traditional profiled bat with a good thickness handle, and you'll have that strength in the join, coupled with a really good balanced blade due to the wood being placed centrally and distributed evenly up and down the blade. You can't beat that.
Profiles are a funny one - I do find that stock shapes are kind of becoming a little more uniform across brands these days. Although people say the gauge has limited the profiles we see these days - has it really? Look at all the old Slazenger shapes, and how they had funny grooves, proper duckbilling etc. Only thing we see anywhere near this level of funkiness is Rashid's Camel bat - which really is incredible. I'd actually argue that it is because players all generally use a very similar shape, that the public will naturally want to use something that resembles what the pros are using.
I find Instagram so deceptive for profiles - specific angles accentuate certain features etc. Also, having a really nice set of stickers does help massively with selling bats - despite what folks say about ignoring the stickers. I think WCW have some of the best stickers for example - but I don't actually see much variety from them, just the duckbill convex mid profile. This could purely be because of Instagram angles, but could also just be because this is the shape that sells most for them.
I'm incredibly greedy, a bat glutton, so I have many profiles that I think just work. I'm gonna exclude any Players Grade stuff or any custom shapes - in terms of stock profiles that do spark interest that I've physically seen...
- Scott - JS 170/175 - Profile just makes sense, puts the meat of the bat exactly where you want, with some concaving to keep the weight down and improve the balance, while maintaining a high spine and thick edge.
- GN Aus - Cobra - Beautiful high spine throughout the bat and running into the toe, with a small amount of concaving
- Warsop - Platinum - Traditional profile with the rounded face, and a thick oval handle. Strokemaker's dream.
- Keeley - WORX 017 with a rounded face - High spine, mid middle, some concaving and the spine running into the toe. Interesting profile that marries what feels like a relic of the past with modern features.
- B3 - Solum - Beautiful profile with that lower swell, and plenty of power in the blade
- GM - Prima - Again with the spine flowing throughout the profile and a more modest edge with a thick shoulder - I do think they missed a trick by not making it a traditional length blade.
Of course, if you're including pro shapes, then H4L, Keeley, GM, GN Aus all have their fair share of really nice pro shaped bats.
Notable funky profiles:
- B3 - Beluga - In response to the gauge. I had one pass through my hands, and it just felt a bit odd.
- Keeley - Rashid Camel - Funky
- BAS - Dolphin - Quite a unique duckbilling, even more aggressive than the Beluga
Little rant here:
I really dislike the bat gauge at times. I'd even go as far to argue that the gauge has done damage to batmakers displaying their skills because of folks just wanting bats to just fit through. It's become a ceiling to hit, rather than a guideline of 'if it fits through this, you're grand'. Spoke to a batmaker, who mentioned that the gauge he feels is flawed. You put Sachin's bat in a bathtub, and it would have displaced far more water than bats of today. Does that mean that we should discount all his achievements as he had achieved a fair bit of it using a bat that would be illegal today? Or do we accept that his skills were what earned him his 100 tons, and that his choice of bat worked because it felt like an extension of him?
Bring back the Thruxtons, the GTs, the B52s, the Mjolnirs, the Tours, the Purists, the Maxis, the Heroes, the Phoenix, the Powerbow, the Amplus, the Distinctions, the old BAS and SS shapes. Heck, look at the bat Gilchrist used to smash his 149 in the WC Final and his 57 ball ton in the Ashes - was a good sized bat back in the day, but would be considered a toothpick compared to the Player Editions of today!
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Topic: Who is making the best bat shapes at the moment? (Read 7691 times)