A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
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Richard

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A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« on: June 16, 2010, 11:11:58 AM »

After playing a lot of school cricket against lads with Nixon bats + PunterPonting's 2 Nixon reviews, I thought it was about time I went down to see what the fuss was about as I only live an hours drive away.
I'd emailed Nick earlier in the week letting him know what specs I was after, his responses were always quick and friendly, a proper 'custom' service if you will.

Cleft
On arriving at Nixon (a true bat-makers workshop, next door to a livestock market) Nick had picked out about half a dozen handled and pressed clefts that he thought would be suitable. I just said whichever cleft was the lightest and would make the biggest bat for 2.9oz would do me fine.

Shape
After not getting on with a few Asian type shape bats i've had + the pick-up on my bro's Newbery Series I, i thought i'd stick with a traditional 'English' profile i.e more middle and smaller edges. Nick had loads of bats lying around and I opted for a shape a little between his stock Storm and Thunder shapes.





In shaping the blade a few knots became visible on the face, I must admit I do like a clean looking blade but on seeing the responsiveness of the bat I was more than happy.
A truly 'custom' service from a vastly under-rated bat maker in my opinion.
Nick assured me that the cleft would be a performer and without wanting to churn out the usual 'this bat goes like stink' line, it really does go. :)

2lb 9oz
G2 cleft

9-10 Grains










I can thoroughly recommend Nixon Cricket, a great service and a great product!
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niceonechoppy

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2010, 11:15:25 AM »

Brilliant! Can I ask how much you paid for it?  The willow looks nice, and the knots aren't even in the proper hitting area of the bat! How long did it take for him to make it for you? Was it just one day you spent at Nixon?
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iand123

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2010, 11:17:03 AM »

Looks great mate, not many "English profile" bats around these days. I live their branding alot, very simple and clean
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harv

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2010, 11:19:59 AM »

That bat looks great bud!
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Cakes

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2010, 12:27:11 PM »

normally i like minimalistic stickers but im not sure i really like these, maybe its because the splice is showing?
however really liking the profile, a club mate has a hawk which look fairly similar to that.
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Buzz

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2010, 12:41:16 PM »

Nice to see a custom bat review on the forum, we haven't had one for a while.

This looks a lovely bat and I am sure you had great fun watching it being made - I really hope it is exactly what you asked for and gets you lots of runs.   
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Richard

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2010, 01:35:24 PM »

Cheers for the comments, I also had an old bat glued as the shoulder was splitting, all in all I paid £175, expensive but worth it for having a bat made exactly as I wanted. I was there for a couple of hours, most of it was taken up by chatting about bats, cricket, sport etc. Interesting to hear a proper bat-makers views on the cricket industry. Nick is a top bloke, hopefully we'll see a few more Nixons around!
« Last Edit: June 16, 2010, 01:38:32 PM by Richard »
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peplow

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2010, 02:22:23 PM »

Not bad, if your happy with it i suppose its alright :)
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Cover_Drive

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2010, 02:51:18 PM »

Looks great. I hope it goes well for you and you score tons of
runs with. Quality looks great! The bat is too good for a G2 cleft. Initially when I looked at the pictures I thought it's G1 cleft and I still think it is
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Richard

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2010, 11:26:06 AM »

Cheers CD, all the clefts i had to choose from were G1, some absolute belters in there too but i went for the lightest one. With the knots in the face Nick only charged for a G2 bat, either way i'm happy.
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danspink

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2010, 01:03:31 PM »

looks a beauty, i see alot of these as i play in north yorkshire and havent seen a bad one yet,
where do you live richard?
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pumakid

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2010, 01:07:27 PM »

ye i've seen a lot of them floating around aswell. To me the general consensus is that they perform well but are quite soft so don't last too long
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Richard

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Re: A trip to Nixon Cricket, North Yorkshire (Bat Review)
« Reply #12 on: June 29, 2010, 01:19:18 PM »

I live near Durham now but used to live in North Yorkshire so saw a lot of them playing down there. Bat went beautifully for 65 last week, but i'm afraid it wasn't much use when i played a lazy shot and got snicked off for 4 on Saturday.
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