Ebay Kashmir willow bat - purchasing, preparing and road test bat No.2

This bat never arrived. Ebay refunded me in full. I would avoid this company.

This is one of a number of blog posts where I'm looking at Kashmir bats and whether they really are that bad? There's loads of opinion out there about how bad they are, but very little in the way of explanations and evidence. I'm testing out three this season, knocking them in over the winter and then I'll be using them in the nets and over the season in 2016. (See bottom of the blog for the other 2 bats).

Ebay Bat no.2

Continuing with my investigations into the use of Kashmir bats this is the 3rd of the three that I'm preparing. See the links at the end of this post for links to the other two.

Bat 2 as I'm referring to it at the moment is another Ebay bat sold on the promise that it has massive fat edges 45mm thick and can be obtained with a weight between 2lb 12oz and 3lb 3oz. When I first came across the advert I contacted the seller...

Dear Sir,

You've listed the weight between 1250 and 1450 grams, is there any way that if I ordered this bat you could guarantee that I'll receive a 1250 or somewhere near that weight bat? 1450 would be far too heavy for me.

 The seller Sportscentre21 replied quickly with...
Ok no issues😄 just let me know after placing the order

The description in the Ebay advert was...

Thick edge English willow (nurtured in india) cricket bat. Massive performance. Cannot be found at this price. This cricket bat comes with various FREE Add-ons' that for protection of the bat and to take care of the bat. Weight and grains may vary. weight of the bat will be from (1250 - 1450) gms. This package includes following items.

= 1 THICK EDGE ENGLISH WILLOW (Nurtured in India) cricket bat.
= 2 PENTA BAT GRIPS
= 1 WELL FINISHED PADDED BAT COVER (NOT THE ORDINARY ONE)
= 1 TOE GAURD

This one again in the region of £30 with the postage. The bat they say is £16.00 just for the bat. What you have to realise is that the blokes that make these bats are being paid approx. 200 rupees a day to do the work, in the UK that's £2.00 and watching the video's these blokes work fast and hard and the yards and buildings they work in are surrounded by thousands of bats. The clefts must cost next to nothing to buy from the Kashmir wood suppliers and when you're paying your staff to make x amounts of bats per day at £2.00 a day, selling one at £16.00 is a good mark up I guess.

Again these are all pretty wild claims for such a cheap bat, there is though in this advert the inclusion of the phrase English Willow nurtured in India. There seems to be no real information on what this actually means and Jason Mellet claims it's a phrase used to confuse an uninformed public. My own understanding is that it's the same variety of willow species that we grow here in the UK under optimum conditions, but grown in India in far from optimum conditions and therefore an inferior product.

I know these bats are cheap and nasty, but the question I'm looking to answer is - if they're knocked in and prepared as though they're expensive bats are they as good as a Slazenger bat that you'd pay a similar price for?

28th November - Ebay Bat 2 Was ordered at the end of November 2015 and now a month later still hasn't arrived. Remember bat 2:11 was ordered and sent within 3 days!

As I write hasn't arrived yet and will take a lot longer to arrive. Looking at the negative comments on Ebay regarding this supplier, some of the them are about the time taken to deliver the bat. I'm expecting it to arrive about Dec 10th it's Nov 28th as I write. What I'll be interested in seeing is the thickness of the edge as this is their USP (Unique selling point) and one of the key reasons I've bought it and no doubt other people will be doing the same. Watching the site, there are a lot of people watching so this feature is something people desire especially given the weight spec's.

25th December - Ebay Bat No.2 as above still hasn't arrived and I've now lodger a formal complaint with Ebay in order to try and speed up the process or maybe get my money back. I'd rather have the bat in order that I have a look at it and see how it compares with the other two bats that I'm readying and comparing. Reviews of the other 2 bats are here...

2nd Jan 2016.

This bat never arrived and Ebay refunded me my money in full. I would advise that you avoid buying from this company.

Bat 2:11 
Bat - Slazenger V1200


Bibliography


http://cricketgearreviews.com/the-deep-and-dark-secrets-of-cricket-bat-making/ - Reference to NI (Nurtured in India) interview conducted with Jason Mellet and an alleged industry insider.





It's obvious, a proper English Willow bat grown in Essex or Suffolk is going to cost you a lot of money. If you see them being sold anywhere else cheap they are not going to be the real deal. If you're looking for a high quality bat, go to a high quality supplier after doing your research and be ready to part with a load of cash.