Powerbow

And so long as it is censored and does not offend anybody. i guess so.

I think if some **** is written to directly offend anyone, that must be banned, depending on the severity.

This is my opinion, the main 'big' companys do make good bats eg kooka, gn, gm, puma and they offer different style of bats to suit different players. However, i personally believe that if you go to Laver&wood, bradbury fusion etc you will normally get a better bat as it is suited to your game, usually the willow used will be better, and as they are hand made the balance and pick up will be a lot better, so you will get more wood in the profile from these custom made companys compared to the 'big' companys. i have had a gm, woodworm and newbery and my last bat was a laver, the difference of quality and size is big.

does anyone on this forum have a bradbury or have picked up and had a look at one, i would like to hear your thoughts as i am interested in them. Thanks

(plus small firms like ourselves can get thier willow weighed)

what do you mean by that?!?!

Just thought I'd add my two cents worth here!

Salient points to this discussion (although off original topic) are:

A) Larger brands will charge a premium for their goods, relying not only on quality of goods, but also perceived quality gained through promotion and sponsorship.

B) I don't believe that all big brand bats are not as good as custom made bats - especially for the average league cricketer!

C) There is obviously a distinct advantage to having a bat custom made for yourself, but equally, I am sure if you tried out 40 or 50 (or more) bats in a store you would find one that was 99.9% custom for you in feel, weight, etc - I mean there are only so many bat weights, shapes, sizes, etc.

D) Just because a bat isn't from a currently big brand name, e.g. GN or Kookaburra doesn't mean it won't be a good bat. After not playing cricket for 10 years my first bat back was a Stuart Surridge english willow bat (low grade) that cost me £35. I scored over 500 runs in 8 innings that season, averaging over 105. The bat - with an antiscuff sheet applied - had one surface crack at the end of that, it had an amazing middle, and was well worth the £35. I now play with a top of the range Duncan Fearnley Batwing (because I used to use them at school, and I got it off eBay for £50 RRP £200) and find it to be an excellent bat too - lovely middle, beautiful grains - excellent. Both SS and DF are out of favour at the moment, just because they don't sponsor big name players, but the bats are still really good.

E) A cricket bat is only as good as the person who uses it, and unless it's a total plank, or weighs way too much or too little, etc - I think the average league player can go with a brand name bat, and still get a good bat their purposes.

All in all then - I guess what I am saying is you need to buy a bat that suits you, not only in size, weight, etc but also what you can afford!

PS Sometimes it is easy to see which pros have just stickered their bats, e.g. Jaques Kallies when he was supposedly using a V1200 and used a bat with a bow in it, or Freddie using a Flame/Torch stickered up as his Wand. But for Kookaburra bats, with these graphite matrices on the back, how easy is it for Ricky Ponting, etc to have a different makers bat with that applied to it?