To Somerset, to Taunton, for help, for salvation from the finest craftsmen in the world. It was time to change bats, time to blame your old tools and get better, newer ones. I went to buy the most treasured object man can hold; a bat made by Millichamp and Hall.
In a modest workshop, bat Mecca lies hidden in the county ground at Somerset. As you near their doors, your ears prick to sounds of whirling saws, singing planes and screeching willow as another cleft of wood is drawn, shaped and fashioned into a work of art. Who needs fancy orchestras when some of us would pay the earth to hear the arrangement from this chamber.
When it was time to go home I was sad. Sad because I’d just spent some of the best hours of my life; all the while mourning the years I’d lost. 14 years in education, child to teen, followed by 4 years reading rot and nonsense at an obscure medieval university on the Fife coast; all for a career but all for what? When I could have been apprenticed to a batmaker; learning to rasp handles- a new euphemism for Onan’s adherents surely? if I knew what I knew now I’d be a batmaker today. Give me those years again and I’d be a batmaker. I could have been a batmaker. I could have been a batmaker.
15 Comments
I own a m&h original cricket bat, and its the best bat i ve ever used, highly recommended.
how long did you knock your bat in for?
I didn’t. MandH knocked it in for me I think. if they didn’t, it didn’t matter because when it hits the middle- a lot of middle-it just sings. I did put a ball in a sock and wack it for a bit but after 15 mins, I got bored. Throw downs in the nets knocked the bat in as well.
any damage marks yet? I ask as i bought the “solution” bat from M&H been knocking it in for 4 & a half hours so far! - I like to make sure a new bat is knocked in so it lasts longer lol
This is a wonderful site by the way! - i stumbled a cross it by chance (when looking for M&H pads of all things!) i do hope you get your 100!! how did you do at the weekend?
The M&H Original is by far the best bat that I have ever seen or used. It has a fantastic pickup and when the ball hits the middle, it goes…
Needless to say that you can’t even feel the ball hitting the bat when it centres.
No doubt in my mind, well worth the money.
i’ve never owned and m&h bat before. in the wisdon good gear guide of 2010 it is only rated a 2 and a half star. Do you think I should get one. I am only 13 though. Are they heavy as well?
Wisden wrote about the M&H solution- “A more refined bat than many to the naked eye… the oval handle offers a different feel and, if you are not keen this can be disguised by adding another grip. ……..the middle could extend higher, to avoid that chip drive on the up to cover and then another painstaking week before drawing it from its hilt once more.”
2 reasons why this is rubbish
1
The oval handle shape helps your technique. The oval base, I’ve found, stops you wrapping a clunking bottom hand round the bat. It makes you hold the bat with a V at the bottom. The oval sits nicely between your thumb and forefinger.
2
Wisden’s view that the middle could go higher so that you don’t chip a drive on the up to cover is just an example of someone trying to be clever; find me a club player who drives a ball at the top of its bounce (on the up) through cover on English pitches, on a saturday, and I’m Brian Lara. It doesn’t happen and if you get out like that, your timing, not the bat is too blame.
My advice: ignore Wisden. M&H are a bit expensive for a 13 year old but if you can afford it, buy the Original. The cheapest- get the grade 1 willow- but their best bat I think. I don’t know how tall or strong you are. Ask Nick for the right weight.
Tom, I am glad you have given that advice, as I have just bought the new M&H original. The sweetspot is enormous!! Eddie, I would go for the original. I am 16, I have got a Harrow size, and it isn’t heavy. As you are younger, it will probs be lighter anyway.
Good Luck!
eddie im am 14 and i got my M&H orginal Small handle bat last year i asked if they could make a lighter small handel so my bat is a 2.5oz which is light for a small size bat and it is the best bat i have used going through 3 bradbury’s and a woodworm i decided to get a good bat.It has a great pick up and a sweet middle but it all comes at a price but it is well worth it if you are playing cricket at a high level.
The Harlequin got me my first ever six so proud and in the last two games I have three six’s
which is the best bat that they make cause i am interested in buying one and i like the sound of either the Harlequin or the s6
Top bat, the Harlequin
call them and speak to Nick, that’s the best thing to do, don’t listen to me mate.
Im 12. i own a Millichamp and Hall original size 6. best bat ive ever used. If you buy one, dont be put off by which stickers it has- every bat is the same as they are obviously handmade. Also, i saw a bat the same shape as mine (really thick toe and big edges, big middle, light) with harlequin stickers on at the same shop.
oops i meant every bat is DIFFERENT
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