How to choose a cricket bat without being sold one
Pickup, weight and willow, and the parts of the sales patter that mean nothing at all.
The gear pages
Five pages on the kit you actually buy, written by people who have to carry the bag to the ground and back.
Read this bit first
We do not sell any of this. There is no shop here yet, no stock, no basket, and nothing on these pages is an affiliate link. No brand has paid for a mention and no brand has seen a word of it before you did.
That also means we name very few products. When there is a shop, you will be able to tell the difference between advice and selling, because the advice will still read the same. More about the shop.
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Your bat is heavier than you think
The most common mistake in a cricket shop, and it quietly costs you runs square of the wicket.
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Knocking in, and why the boring hour matters
A new bat is a soft bat. Skip this and the willow finds out for you, usually in April.
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Pads and gloves for the ball you actually face
Club cricket is not a Test match. Buy for the pace you get on a Saturday and keep the change.
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What actually lives in a cricket bag
The list is shorter than the shop would like, and two of the useful things on it are not cricket equipment at all.
If you would rather read about the game than the kit, everything else is in the writing.