On the morning of January 31, three kit maestros from Serious Cricket drove a branded van through the Alec Stewart Gate at the Kia Oval, full to the brim with the best bits of equipment for 2024.
A version of this article was first published in issue 75 of Wisden Cricket Monthly.
By the end of the day, we had a much better idea of which bats will fly this year, which soft goods will shimmer and shine, and how many of our batting ‘testers’ are in some kind of nick for the new season (answer: not all of them). Nothing ushers in the optimism of summer like a first look at pristine cricket bats, and seeing the boys carrying armfuls of unblemished blades to the indoor school, ready for testing, I was reminded of the old Goochie line when he saw a pile of new sticks at Lord’s one time, “I feel like Billy Bunter in a sweet shop!”. It doesn’t matter what stage you’re at in your love affair with this game. Cricket people love cricket bats.
This year we’ve teamed up with Serious Cricket, the retail store with both an online and in-store option, to assess the latest models and innovations from 11 of the best brands in the game, all of which are sold through the Serious Sport website. But this time we wanted to go further. And so, with the help of four Wisden staffers – all of whom are club cricketers – and one very special talent from the brilliant ACE programme (Davina Perrin: remember the name), we worked through 30 of the best blades on the market, grading and assessing as we went.
We followed a strict assessment process, with each tester facing a minimum of 10 bowling-machine balls per bat and grading each blade across three metrics:
- aesthetics/initial impressions (mark out of 5)
- pick-up/feel (mark out of 5)
- performance (mark out of 10)
We were less fixated on selecting ‘winners and ‘losers’ than getting a sense of what each model could offer the punter across a range of price bands; after all, as with our testers, every cricketer will have their own tastes and personal requirements. We hope to furnish you with all the kit-based information you need going into the season.
Phil Walker, Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief
The Testers
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Wisden bat testers Dan Senior, Davina Perrin, James Wallace, Adam Collins and Jon Hotten (From left to right)[/caption]
Dan Senior
Age: 26
Job: Wisden social media editor
Club: Glossop CC
Ideal bat: Somewhere in the 2.8 to 2.10 range. I prefer the weight evenly spread, so a mid-profile with a sweet spot in the middle that’s good for driving (and nicking off to slip). Other things I look for would be a flat face, fairly thin handle and a light pick up.
First bat: The first bat I fell in love with was the Woodworm Flame. Immediately makes me think back to Flintoff in the 2005 Ashes. Pietersen’s Woodworm Torch at the same time feels similarly iconic, but as a Lancs fan I’m drawn to Flintoff.
Favourite player: Aiden Markram. It was the 2018 home Test series against Australia that really drew me in. He then endured a quiet few years, for whatever reason – while still always looking unbelievable doing it – but has found his best form again over the last 12-18 months.
Davina Perrin
Age: 17
Job: Professional cricketer
Club: Central Sparks and Birmingham Phoenix
Ideal bat: One that feels good in the hands, is evenly balanced, and it needs to ping!
First bat: Non-branded bat made by a bloke called Adil! Scored over a thousand runs with it in my first season.
Favourite player: Sir Viv – I’ve watched him since I was a kid, my dad would always bring him up on YouTube. I love the footage when he gets hit on the head and stares down the bowler – that’s how I want to play.
James Wallace
Age: 34
Job: Cricket writer
Club: Reared on a plum pudding at Bakewell CC; now a wanderer
Ideal bat: I’m a purist, so I like the old-school looking ones; the Powerspot has a special place in my heart. Bats these days blow my mind; beautiful to pick up and look at, but with edges like four slices of thick white bread.
First bat: A Gunn & Moore Purist – when I saw Michael Vaughan’s cover drive as a kid, that was it for me. It lasted me years!
Favourite player: Robin Smith for his cut shot; and the nuggety Nineties guys like Thorpe and Crawley.
Adam Collins
Age: 39
Job: Broadcaster and podcaster; WCM columnist
Club: Cricket Media CC; Lord’s Taverners CC; Authors CC
Ideal bat: One that’s forgiving, with weight distributed evenly enough that even a miscue is a chance of going all the way.
First bat: Gray-Nicolls Elite
Favourite player: Glenn Maxwell, not just with the bat but in the way he manipulates fields, he’s always one step ahead.
Jon Hotten
Age: 59
Job: Writer
Club: Authors CC
Ideal bat: I use a Newbery, which is the best bat I’ve ever had: oval handle, quite a low middle, and light – nothing more than 2lb 7oz for me. Bats are incredibly idiosyncratic, and you never know until you pick one up. My advice: when you find the right one, hang on to it!
First bat: It was a Stuart Surridge from Fleet Sports – £4. A family friend won on the football pools and bought it for me. I was about six or seven. Loved that bat, still remember how the linseed oil smelled the first time it was oiled. Never used it anywhere but the garden. Still got it.
Favourite players: Of current players, James Vince. I’m a Hampshire fan, and you can’t beat Vincey. I’d rather watch him get 30 than Root get a hundred.
Chase
A Hampshire-based boutique brand renowned for their excellent range of lower-grade offerings as well as their Grade 1 premiums, they specialise in handmade English willow bats, often with tight grains and a slightly bowed shape, and minimalist designs on their softs.
R11 Vortex
Grade: 1
Weight: 2lbs 10
Width: 5cm
Edge width: 3.4cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Squared
Grains: 9
Best detail: A 20mm shorter blade than other Chase models: ideal for short-format hitting
RRP: £420
FLC
Grade: Premium Weight: 2lbs 10
Width: 5.7cm
Edge width: 3.8cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Slightly curved
Grains: 13
Best detail: Mid-low sweet spot; eight-inch middle
RRP: £562
R11 Volante
Grade:1
Weight: 2lbs 9
Width: 5.5cm
Edge width: 3.4cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 14
Best detail: Mid-low sweet spot; classic shape
RRP: £420
“[The R11 Volante is] just a beautiful looking bat. Loads of grains, very straight and true, but it’s the big chunk of heartwood that draws me in. The heartwood, as the name suggests, is wood which has grown closer to the middle of the tree, so it’s contained a bit more moisture in the growing process. Maybe it’s psychological but I always feel they go a bit better. This is a touch-player’s bat. I’m giving it top marks for initial impressions and four out of five for pick-up, but it could easily be a five.” JH
Chase Pro 110 Duffle Bag
RRP: £102
“I’ve needed a new bag for two years, and having scouted around, I’ve settled on this black beauty. It’s big without being cumbersome, and as a duffle, it slips easily on my shoulders – no one wants to drag a wheelie bag across London on a Saturday morning. With a sealed external compartment for smelly shoes and a padded ‘bat chamber’ for two bats it’s doing all the good jobs, all at once.” PW
DSC
A globe-straddling enterprise these days with a presence in all the big hotspots, DSC are making waves in the UK market having added Alex Hales and Danni Wyatt to their ‘rebels’ – a stable which also features David Warner, Usman Khawaja, and New Zealand’s new superstar, Rachin Ravindra.
SPLIT PRO
Grade: Pro
Weight: 2lbs 9
Width: 5.7cm
Edge width: 3.5cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 9
Best detail: Vast mid-low sweet spot
RRP: £623
XLITE 2.0
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 8
Width: 5.5cm
Edge width: 3.6cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape:
Rounded Grains: 8
Best detail: Ultra-lightweight pick-up
RRP: £372
“This was my first time seeing a DSC in the flesh, and the Xlite 2.0 made an immediate impression. Simple stickers with just enough character and detail, a flat face and clean grains, it ticked all the initial boxes. It looked like a mid-profile, and upon picking it up the weight distribution felt perfect, the handle sitting nicely in the gloves.” DS
Kookaburra
[caption id=”attachment_606020″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″]
Outstanding value: Kookaburra Bubble 3 Star[/caption]
Bubble 3 Star
Grade: 3
Weight: 2lbs 9
Width: 5.7cm
Edge width: 3.3cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 6
Best detail: Retro option, large extended sweet spot
RRP: £200
Ridgeback 2000
Grade: 3
Weight: 2lbs 10
Width: 5.5cm
Edge width: 3.4cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Slightly curved
Grains: 6
Best detail: Retro option, scooped profile
RRP: £300
“It makes me think of Thorpe in 1994. The Ridgeback – and the Bubble, for that matter – remind you how much things have moved on; I remember seeing them when they first came out and thinking they were space-age futuristic. Now it’s for the nostalgist.” JH
“The Bubble may evoke the old guard, but it’s still got much to offer the modern market. Four of our five testers gave it an eight out of 10 for performance, and as a Grade 3 willow coming in at just £200 RRP, it goes to show that you don’t need a top-range stick to get some purchase. One of the best-value bats that we saw. Both are also available in higher-grade willow.” PW
LC 2.0 Wicketkeeping gloves
RRP: £84.99
1.0 Wicketkeeping pads
RRP: £69.99
Kookaburra: kings of keeping. No other brand is so synonymous with wicketkeeping as Kookaburra. Ian Healy began the association in Australia, Alec Stewart and Jack Russell maintained it in England, and now it’s Ben Foakes sporting the latest Kookaburra gauntlets much as Ian’s niece, Alyssa, carries on the family business in Oz.
Gunn & Moore
[caption id=”attachment_606023″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″]
Great value: 606 Wheelie Duffle Bag [/caption]
Diamond B555 Limited Edition
Grade: Pro
Weight: 2lbs 10
Width: 5.6cm
Edge width: 3.2cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 10
Best detail: Mid-high sweet spot, made to Ben Stokes’ specifications
RRP: £750
“One of the first bats I tested on the day, the GM Diamond BS55 was really enjoyable. It had that all-important ping off the middle, and even with a minimal, effortless swing of the bat, the output was excellent. There is of course the added bonus that it makes you feel like Ben Stokes when using it, which is all anyone can ask for. I gave it a nine for performance. It could have been more.” DS
606 Wheelie Duffle Bag
RRP: £46
Diamond Original Gloves
RRP: £117.95
Gray-Nicolls
Gem 2.0 Players Generation
Grade: 1
Weight: 2lbs 8
Width: 5.8cm
Edge width: 3.8cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 19
Best detail: Half-inch shorter blade/female orientated range
RRP: £450
Powerspot Original
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 8
Width: 5.8cm
Edge width: 4cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Very slightly curved
Grains: 6
Best detail: Low sweet spot – retro shape
RRP: £350
Tempesta 1.0 Players Generation
Grade: 1
Weight: 2lbs 9
Width: 5.7cm
Edge width: 3.9cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Squared
Grains: 1
Best detail: Mid-low sweet spot
RRP: £450
Astro 200
Grade: 4
Weight: 2lbs 5
Width: 6.1cm
Edge width: 3.5cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 6
Best detail: Lowish middle
RRP: £170
TEAM 400 duffle bag
RRP: £54.99
TEAM 150 wheelie bag
RRP: £44.99
Tempesta batting pads
RRP: £59.99
Test 1500 batting gloves
RRP: £99.99
“The Gem range is consciously aimed at female players. The blades are shorter than the industry standard, and the pick-up, with a highish middle, is featherlight. Tammy Beaumont and Sophia Dunkley both use Gem bats. Gray-Nicolls don’t miss a trick.” PW
“I didn’t realise the Gray-Nicolls Astro was Mitch Marsh’s bat of choice, but it made perfect sense the longer I hit with it. Picks up beautifully, but they all do these days. The difference was that even when not quite getting it right, towards the bottom of the bat especially, it still pinged away. How often do you see big Mitch not quite get hold of one and it still lands 10 rows back? This bat is ideal for getting on the front foot and trusting your swing. My favourite of all the sticks on the day.” AC
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Adam Collins with his favourite bat of the day [/caption]
Newbery
One of the great names in the game. Only the finest willow cuts it at their legendary Hove workshop, and the shapes of their blades are at once distinctive and reassuringly classical.
Navarone
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 7
Width: 5.6cm
Edge width: 3.7cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Curved
Grains: 7
Best detail: Low-mid sweet spot – classic shape
RRP: £450
“The moment I saw this bat in the line-up, I was immediately drawn to it. The gold and black sticker colourway boasted by the Navarone is classy, sophisticated, understated. I originally marked the pick-up 4/5, but once I began batting, I knew I’d made a mistake. Everything felt right. The handle nestled perfectly in the gloves, the pick-up was balanced, the swing was effortless and the ping off the middle was a dream. I’m fairly sure this was the first time I’d ever used a Newbery, and it certainly lived up to expectations I had as a kid growing up. My favourite of all the bats I got through.” DS
Salix
In the heart of the Kent countryside, the Salix workshop has for more than three decades been the creative hub of the great batmaker, Andrew Kember. Many tens of thousands of exquisite blades have been made here. A legendary name in batmaking circles, Salix is not a mass-production business. There are no CNC machines here churning out identikit models. Instead: immaculate cricket bats, painstakingly produced from cleft to finish, each and every one of them crafted by hand.
HN03 Acid Nitric Batbomb
Grade: 1
Weight: 2lbs 10
Width: 6.1cm
Edge width: 3.9cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 12
Best detail: Classical shape, futuristic look
RRP: £415
AJK Marque
Grade: 1
Weight: 2lbs 8
Width: 5.5cm
Edge width: 3.5cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 9
Best detail: Big edged bat with semi flat profile
RRP: £535
“So, the Nitric. I didn’t even know it was a Salix, and I would say that’s a mistake! The stickers aren’t for me. Does the word ‘Acid’ mean anything to today’s youth? It feels like an old man’s idea of what kids are into. But then I’m an old man myself, so it doesn’t really matter what I think. But then you pick it up, and it has that grace, that sure mark of Salix. They are batsman’s bats. Then there’s the original Salix – a gorgeous looking bat, with a little touch of heartwood on the inside edge, the back of it has been crafted to perfection. It’s so soft, it’s like a pillow. You could sleep on it. Beautiful.” JH
Helmets
Gray-Nicolls Ultimate 360 helmet
RRP: £89.99
Masuri E Line Titanium helmet
RRP: £225.00
Shrey Koroyd Titanium helmet
RRP: £260
Kookaburra Pro 1200 helmet
RRP: £74.99
“There are no bad helmets any more. Tightened UK safety regulations have made sure of that. There are only two real variables now: price and comfort. The grilles on the pricier lids are made from titanium as opposed to the heavier steel, though the fundamental shapes of each brand remain the same. As a rule, the lighter the helmet, the more you will have to pay, and it’s true that a heavy, over-sized helmet for a young player can be burdensome. Nonetheless, the range of prices available in the helmets market – as evidenced here by our four chosen examples – should ensure that buyers are able to work within their means. My advice, having had problems with lids in the past, is to shop around for the right price point, and definitely, if you can, try before you buy.” PW
SG
Sanspareils Greenlands, abbreviated to SG, is an Indian batmaking monolith, formed 93 years ago and thriving today as one of the game’s biggest hitters, boasting the likes of Rishabh Pant and KS Rahul among their number and now, having branched out into the UK market, signing up Liam Livingstone. It’s a further sign that the batmaking game is a global enterprise these days and that SG are keen to make a noise in the UK.
[caption id=”attachment_606035″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″]
Great value: HP33 Premier[/caption]
HP33 Premier
Grade: 3
Weight: 2lbs 7
Width: 5.4cm
Edge width: 3.8cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 6
Best detail: Mid-high sweet spot
RRP: £250
Sunny Legend Vintage Select
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 6
Width: 5.4cm
Edge width: 3.8cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 5
Best detail: Classic profile shape
RRP: £300
“In the main our testers were unconvinced by the look and feel of the SGs, and that ultimately hindered their push to the top spots, but these are interesting bats – extraordinarily light in the hands, ideal for touch players and younger batters. Both did well in the all- important category of performance, with the Premier, at £250 notes, offering especially good value.” PW
New Balance
Big players, big pockets, big names. Synonymous with Joe Root and Steve Smith, NB has disrupted the old order in recent years, shifting huge numbers of bats around the world and showing no sign of letting up. A worldwide brand that exists outside of the cricket bubble, its cricket imprint is nonetheless consistently competitive.
TC 1260
Grade: 1
Weight: 2lbs 8
Width: 5.6cm
Edge width: 4.1cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Rounded Grains: 9
Best detail: Mid-high sweet spot
RRP: £570
DC 1280
Grade: 1
Weight: 2lbs 9
Width: 5.5cm
Edge width: 4cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Slightly curved
Grains: 10
Best detail: Mid-low sweet spot
RRP: £570
BURN+
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 6
Width: 5.4cm
Edge width: 3.8cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 11
Best detail: Mid-swell equals a featherlight pick-up
RRP: £400
“The BURN is a very interesting bat to me. Beyond the livery, which is smart enough, if you look at the face, it’s very flat. This gives the sense that it’s a broad bat with a wide hitting area. It’s got a very nice profile, especially for an English bat in early season. If I had unlimited funds to play with, I’d be looking at a bat with these components, and it picks up very nicely indeed. I’ll give it a pairs of fours for look and feel.” JH
World Class Willow
World Class Willow (WCW) is a young batmaking company based in Somerset with a disruptors’ word-of-mouth buzz around them. “We do everything ourselves,” MD Mike Kennedy tells WCM. “There are only five of us in the UK that do it this way.” Their bats, used by Somerset’s Will Smeed and a few other pros, are unashamedly in-your-face, garishly liveried, and go like the clappers. While sustaining a boutique brand in straitened times is an ongoing challenge, Kennedy has faith that the lure of the game will win out in the end. “Sport is one thing that everyone will make allowances for,” he says. “They can’t go on holiday, but they’ll still give up their Saturdays to play cricket.”
FLAIR 2.0
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 7
Width: 5.5cm
Edge width: 3.8cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Slightly curved
Grains: 11
Best detail: Academy size, ultra-lightweight, good for female/youth players
RRP: £420
PRO X 2.0
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 9
Width: 5.2cm
Edge width: 4cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Slightly curved
Grains: 9
Best detail: Short blade, perfect for middle-order hitters
RRP: £430
“As a boutique brand you’ve got to try and stand out somehow, and with their stickers, you know straight away who this is. Shape-wise they’re familiar-looking bats, in keeping with modern trends, but they’re beautifully finished and the PRO X in particular picks up nicely, with a lower middle than most, which will suit the front-foot player. It’s their style: they’re looking to attract those types of players – big, thrusting hitters.” JH
Payntr
A truly innovative brand with a cracking origin story, Payntr is the brainchild of former Northants player David Paynter, who spent his post-playing career hotfooting it across the globe in search of the perfect cricketing trainer-shoe. In recent years they’ve risen to the top of the cricket shoe market. Some of this year’s models come with spikes, others with pimpled soles, and now there’s even a slider range – the ‘Recovery Slide’ – added to their range.
Payntr XPF-22 Pimple Cricket Shoe
RRP: £110
The lightest shoe yet produced by Payntr, designed specifically for batters who are light on their feet. With lightweight, breathable materials, they are comfortable for long, hot days in the dirt, and are considered good options for non-bowling fielders as well as strokemakers.
“These work for me. I like to bat in pimpled shoes if I can, I find that the bigger spikes sometimes get caught in the turf when I step out onto the front foot, especially when it’s dry underfoot. These are really lightweight, super comfortable and light as a feather, they look good too. Classy without being showy.” JW
The Winners
The best performing bats in the 2024 WCM Gear Test…
No. 3
Gray-Nicolls Powerspot Original
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 8
Width: 5.8cm
Edge width: 4cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Very slightly curved
Grains: 6
Best detail: Low sweet-spot; retro shape
RRP: £350
Overall marks: 86.5/100
“In truth I would have been happy to take guard with any of the top four or five bats, but there’s something both nostalgic and contemporary about Gray- Nicolls’ reimagining of the Powerspot. It looks sleek and new but has the resonance of the past. You expect high performing bats from Gray-Nics, and this is beautifully balanced and powerful.” JH
“I didn’t like it on first impressions at all. Perhaps the old-school look isn’t really for me, and I’m really not a fan of the flat, square toe. I prefer a bit more shape at the bottom of my bat. But when I came to use it, it pinged off the middle. It was right up there with the best performing bats I tested, even if I didn’t really like how it looked.” DP
No.2
DSC Xlite 2.0
Grade: 2
Weight: 2lbs 8
Width: 5.5cm
Edge width: 3.6cm
Toe guard: Yes
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 8
Best detail: Ultra-lightweight pick-up – mid-profile sweet spot
RRP: £372
Overall marks: 87.5/100
“My favourite was the DSC Xlite. It looked good straight away, and when I picked it up I thought it was a pretty decent bat. Performance-wise, I gave it a nine, so it can’t be half bad! A very balanced pick-up, not too heavy for me, and a nice, thin handle too, and the stickers look great, too! Yeah, pretty decent…” DP
No.1
Salix AJK Marquee
Grade: 1
Weight: 2lbs 8
Width: 5.5cm
Edge width: 3.5cm
Toe guard: No
Toe shape: Rounded
Grains: 9
Best detail: Big-edged bat with semi-flat profile
RRP: £535
Overall marks: 90.5/100
“Salix has always given off a premium vibe, and seeing the AJK Marque reaffirmed that. Simple yet elegant stickers, clean grains, beautiful shape, perfect pick-up. The craftsmanship and attention to detail is remarkable. The performance, faultless. The only frustration? We need more pros to use them and give Salix bats the attention they deserve.” DS
“For me, the Salix AJK Marque hits all the right spots. With its simplistic design it resembles the classic sort of blade a flannelled old timer could be glimpsed using on some British Pathé newsreel footage but as soon as it is in the hand it reveals a different story. It’s chunky, as all modern bats seem to be, but so softly pressed and beautifully weighted that it picks up like a wand. The model I used had a ridiculously good middle, giving the illusion, however fleeting, that you are at least 80 per cent a better batter than you actually are.” JW
WIN A MASTERPIECE
The Salix AJK Marque emerged with the highest marks across our testers, and Salix has agreed to let one WCM reader get their hands on it. To be in with a chance of claiming a masterpiece, just answer this question:
Which current England star has, to date, been sponsored by five different bat brands across his Test career, including two separate stints with Gray-Nicolls?
Send your answers either to editorial@wisden.com. Closing date is March 15. This competition is only open to UK residents. We will contact the winner directly.
You can buy all of this featured gear both online or in store at Serious Cricket. Any burning questions or queries – Serious are here to help.
