Gray Nicolls
This fine old English company has been manufacturing cricket equipment of the highest
quality since 1876. Market leaders, Gray-Nicolls combine tradition with innovation,
producing a whole range of equipment, suitable for both the playground and the Test
Arena. In particular, we are proud of the fact that our cricket bats are all hand
crafted in the U.K., using our own carefully nurtured, high quality English willow.
All Gray-Nicolls willow is "air dried" to ensure perfect moisture content. Only the
best English willow, Salix Caerulea or Alba Var, is used. These varieties have been
grown and harvested by our Company in a willow replenishment programme for the
past 50 years. This is a unique scheme, which is also ecologically sound.
Once harvested, the willow is brought to our Robertsbridge factory in East Sussex,
cut into roundells and separated into splits, each of which will form a single bat. The bark is then removed.
The wood is subsequently machined into a cleft. The operator decides which area of
the cleft will become the face of the bat. This is a vitally important stage as the
face must be free from the blemishes and knots that could otherwise impair
performance.
Willow, a soft fibrous reed, is naturally very moist. To produce a good quality
bat, the clefts must be dried, then placed in a custom built kiln, which is
maintained at room temperature for 6 weeks. Once dried, the cleft is pressed
at approximately 2000lbs per square inch. This process produces drive and
durability.
Every handle is dry-fitted into the blade before gluing. This ensures a perfect
fit and the unique Gray-Nicolls characteristic of a slightly forward positioning
of the handle, which accentuates the bow in the bat.
Master bat maker, John Gasson (who came to us when he was a mere stripling of
16), and his craftsmen use traditional tools to balance and shape the bats to
perfection.
The bat is then sanded and passed on; the handle bound; the grip applied.
After a quality control inspection, the performance is tested with a Lignum Vitae
hammer.
So, from the successful "Scoop" to the new reinforced Kevlar handled bats, you
can see that although Gray-Nicolls' methods of bat making may still be steeped in
the past, the quality and performance of the end result is very much of the
future.