HUNTS COUNTY - THE VISION OF CRICKET.
County bats were first made at St. Neots in
Huntingdonshire by the Trimmins family in 1904.
Production continued here until the factory moved
to Huntingdon in 1983. The craftsmen from St.
Neots are still making bats at Huntingdon which
enables us to use the slogan 'bats made for
centuries'. Tony Cook is our master bat-maker and
he recalls making bats for many famous international
players including the following: Richie Benaud, David
Gower, Tony Grieg, Barry Richards, Imran Khan,
Peter Kirsten, Geoff Boycott, John Edrich, Graham
Wood, Dennis Lillee, Alan Lamb, Mike Proctor, Pat
Symcox, Daryll Cullinan, Nick Knight and, most
recently, Darren Maddy and Grahan Swann.
During the '99 World Cup you would have seen the
Zimbabwe opening batsman (and opening bowler)
Neil Johnson make that very good 120 against
Australia, using a County Insignia L.E. Our bats are
still made in the traditional way in order to get the
best possible bat from the selected materials. It is
for this reason that County Bats are sought after all
over the world and are available wherever cricket
is played.
Every year we produce and supply over twenty
thousand cricket bats worldwide. The shape of the
cricket bat has evolved over the years from the
original 'hockey stick' to the modern familiar shape.
There is no weight limit for a bat, indeed in the 18th
century bats of over 5lb. were in use, and in the
19th century 4 lb. was a common weight. A bat
inscribed J.C. 1729 is kept at the Oval and is the
oldest surviving bat, unless you know of an older
one!