Hi all,
Thought that I would share my thoughts on my trip down to Colts Cricket and Fordham Sports yesterday, which was very enjoyable and productive!
My mate and I popped into Colts Cricket first, cause we both required some refurbs of sorts for our bats. Mine was the more simple - I acquired a Salix Fera Performance off Pete during the week, and it is quite obvious that the Anti-Scuff will come off in time, so I asked for it to be replaced. I was sorta hoping he could do it there and then, but he told me to come back on Saturday, as that is when my mates is being sorted out for. He did bang on about how I was going after the Brands, but you would expect him to as he wants to plug his own bats...!
My mate got a Big Kahuna the other week, and we were playing in the Lords nets and a huge crack appeared on the edge, and it had almost come off, and when we showed it to the owner, he was shocked. Not surprising imo as it wasn't a great bat, but he has offered to do what he can with the bat and again that is for Saturday..
Though what was more interesting to talk about were the range of bats he had in, and he showed us quite a selection! Most of them were plain Asian handmade bats, and they were of impressive quality. There was a 2.12 with a great pickup (sorry!) and some other nice bats too, all with fairly pretty grains and very meaty profiles with 30mm+ edges. In particular there was a bat going to a Middlesex U18 Player which had 40mm edges and brilliant grains. These bats were lovely, and he allowed us to try them out a bit, and they middles were very responsive, even with fairly minimal knocking in. He then compared those with some Size 6s and even a Size 3, and went on to show us some of the bats he had knocked in and a M&H Distinction which looked Horrid! It was a big piece of wood though, at 2.13, with the thicker toe, but the grains were horrible for a Grade A bat, at least judging by what we expect lol! Other companies would have that down as a G3 no doubt.
But overall in Colts Cricket, we saw the guy really did know what he was talking about and had a nice selection of bats on offer, which all felt very good. We spent ages (comparatively) in there, about 45 minutes to an hour, purely because it was such a friendly atmosphere and we were having a great conversation! He did mention the price of £190, which seems a bit steep judging by quality you can get on here for less, but the bats he showed us were truly quality bats, so I think they do warrant the price tag! After a while we left the bats with him, after he moaned we were going after the brands (more my mate than myself!) and decided to head next door. The only quibble I have with his shop is that it can seem quite empty at times, on the same token Fordhams can seem very busy...! I think more bats on the shelves would have been better, and some better spacing of stock would help, but he was a really nice guy who did know his cricket!!
Fordham Sports, as I just mentioned, is a very packed shop, and there was a huge selection of bats for us to look at. The lady on the till was very helpful, and just allowed us to get on with what we were doing. The selection of bats was impressive, sadly they didn't have any of the new GM bats, but all the ones that they had were very nice I thought. I was more targeting the 2011 bats to swing around, so that I could give my opinions on them.
So there were a couple of TTs (haha..), one SPS weighing 2.15 and another Players one weighing 2.9. The SPS felt fantastic, I couldn't feel the weight that much, and the tapered shoulders allowed for more wood in the blade and very generous edges, which was a bonus. The 2.9 one, though slighter, was still a very imposing piece of willow, and they both were bats I wouldn't have a problem with using in a game, as though T20 bats, they were bats that you could still play Cross-Batted shots with! Another interesting Newbery I picked up was a 3.0 Thruxton, which was a real monster, though amazingly it was remarkably well-balanced I thought, and had quite nice grains. Though some of the bats in the shop didn't have as good grains as the ones that were seen next door... :|
The Kaboom and the Quantum, though square-toed, felt very nice, I picked up a Quantum 4 Star which felt great I have to say, they kindly got it out of the storeroom for me. The Kooks I had a go with felt nice (CCX 900 and Kahuna 800), and I tried the Rogue Gloves on to see what all the fuss was about with the Ice ones, and I have to admit they felt very nice and I would consider parting with the cash for them as they seem reasonably priced! I have to get used to sausage style gloves this year with my Vantage Volt Samples though!
There were also some nice feeling Adidas Incurzas, but the Price tag was very hefty (£277 sale price
) and I picked up the Puma Evolution 6000 I almost bought from there in August. Though having a look at that, the grainage wasn't the best, and I realised I could do much better with a BlueRoom to my Specs made by Mr. Pack!
Overall, the shop staff were very helpful, and they really did let you get on with things, unlike in VKS and other places. I think that the stock they had was impressive, picked up a lovely M&H Harlequin in 2.9, looked nice too! My mate bought some Nike Cricket Whites, which were of good quality, and some P2 Strippers, despite me telling him I could get P1s for cheaper off Mike!!
Interestingly, the sales lady seemed to offer us both a job at the end of it all, and said she was in need of Sunday staff to work from 10-3! I was really interested by that, and am considering it, as it would be a great job to work in a Cricket Shop. Plus she said, as I was swinging loads of bats around, that I would be "in my element" picking out all the bats for the shop with John Fordham. It really was interesting to hear, and also interesting was the fact that he had recently been to GM and picked 400 bats, out of 3000! That must have been a long day!
Though I liked Fordhams as well, the prices are a bit high, which is the only thing that put me off. As I am broke, the only thing I bought from the 2 shops was a Mallet from Colts Cricket for £4.50, and I am finishing knocking in my Lekka and H4L now!
Any questions feel free to ask, hope that keeps you occupied at work for a while!
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Topic: Colts Cricket Company and Fordham Sports. (Read 11709 times)