Excalbur 5 Star (Sports Equipment in General)

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Product:	Sports Equipment in General
Date:	07/03/02 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very Light , Huge sweet spot, Three Springs

Disadvantages: Fragile

The Gray Nichol Excalibur 5 Star cricket bat is one in the series of these bats to be named after an ancient weapon such as: Longbow, Simitar and the Saber. The Excalibur is the best in this range of bats. Why I hear you shout. Well firstly the weight I don’t know about you but I like a light bat it gives you freedom of movement and makes playing the more difficult shots that put a lot of pressure on your wrists such as the pull shot, and it also makes the cheeky shots such as the reverse sweep one of the east shots to play. The weight of the Excalibur is the same as Donald Bradman basically as light as a feather.

Right I know what you are thinking great it is light but not very powerful I can do stylish shots but they won’t go anywhere. Well you are wrong infact I think that this is one of the most powerful bats around and considering its weight that is very impressive. It has a huge sweet spot ranging form pretty much from the bottom half of the bat, and considering that the top half of the bat is used mainly for defensive play it dose not need to be powerful in the top half. Infact If you want to see how big the sweet spot is lie the bat flat on the ground and you will see a very large slope emerging from the toe of the bat to the handle, that is your sweet spot the real meat of the bat the slope is about 5cm at the highest point that is roughly 7cm behind that ball giving it some real welly. The bat has 3 spring the most you can get so you won’t get so many of those pesky vibrations that tingle in your fingers when you miss time a shot.

But it is not all good there are a few downs sides to this bat, some may find it too light and may prefer a heaver bat. But the main problem I found with it was although knocked in and oiled well the bat was breaking up quite badly in the middle of the session, but I must confess I had been using it since November in pre session training, but a bat should be able to last you a far time. Also I
found the toe began to crack this is caused by you playing on damp grass and then playing in nets causing the toe of the bat to swell because it has not dried properly which causes cracks to form and expand, this is very similar freeze thaw weathering. I recommend that you get a plastic cover for your bat and have the toe treated, I know that Fordem Sports in Fulam do this for £10, I have had it done this session and it has worked a treat toe and face in one piece but we shall have to see how it holds out on grass.

The Excalibur 5 Star is available in all sizes and I feel it is one not to be missed I highly recommended it.

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