Tyler’s Top Ten is back by (un)popular demand, and this week, Gazette reporter TYLER LEWIS takes a look at the most iconic cricket bats of all time…
1. MRF Run Machine: Many may disagree with this one, but its sheer weight of runs cements it to pole position. This stick was – and is – used by some of the greatest batters the game of cricket has ever seen. Sachin Tendulkar scored a bucket-load of runs with the MRF, Australia’s greatest enemy Virat Kohli uses this blade. Brian Lara used it when he made 400 and even the great Steve Waugh swung one. It’s the best ever, no further discussion.
2. Kookaburra Kahuna: We could finish the reasoning for this at ‘Ricky Ponting used it’, but for discussions sake, we will elaborate. AB De Villiers also swung the iconic green blade in both of his famous One Day International knocks against the West Indies. From a local angle, Dandenong champion Tom Donnell whacks it with his Kahuna, and Gazette photographer Stew Chambers captured Sam Harper playing an elegant sweep with one on Saturday.
3. SS Jumbo: If you walked out to the middle in local cricket with this piece of willow, you would have wanted to be a classy operator. Sir Viv Richards rarely missed the middle with this bat and made it famous with his supreme style. Unlucky not to be higher, but it has some serious competition.
4. Puma Ballistic: If every kid didn’t want a Puma Ballistic before the 2006/07 Ashes series, watching Adam Gilchrist punish Monty Panesar certainly persuaded them. ‘Gilly’ made the blade famous over night with his dazzling century in the West. This particular knock was just a week out from Christmas, we at the Gazette are sure that a few bat stores received some calls that week asking if they had any in stock.
5. Kookaburra Bubble: In the modern era, Brad Haddin returned it to style, but it was once one of the hottest pieces of willow on the market. Sri Lankan accumulator Sanath Jayasuriya made runs for fun with it and so did the great Alec Stewart.
6. Gray-Nicolls Kaboom: Once famous, now infamous. You have to be an exciting player to earn your own branded cricket bat and David Warner certainly excites many. His Kaboom was sold for a red-hot price in early March 2018, but found its way to the clearance bin after his nightmare tour of South Africa. Warner now uses a DSC… whatever that is.
7. Combat: It wasn’t the first questionable incident from the Australian Cricket Team and it certainly won’t be the last. In the Perth 1979 Ashes Test, Dennis Lillee walked to the middle with a bat made of not willow, but aluminium. Lillee was caught out when English skipper Mike Brearley piped up that the ball was deteriorating. It wasn’t the only time an Aussie tried this. Ricky Ponting also used a bat that had graphite reinforcements in the back, not that ‘Punter’ needed any further edge.
8. Gray-Nicolls Legend: The Legend was swung by some of the best cricketers in the world. Its clean cut stickers appealed to greats: Matthew Hayden, Alastair Cook, Keith Miller, Greg Chappell and before he became a walking endorsement, David Warner. If you have a spare $1250, go get yourself one.
9. Kookaburra Beast: The bat was famously used in the early 2000’s by many Australian cricketers, before its recent revival by live-wire Glenn Maxwell. The fully covered back of the bat made for some interesting viewing.
10. New Balance DC: Who would’ve thought this bat would’ve been considered iconic ten years ago? But Steve Smith and Joe Root have turned New Balance into an in-demand cricket bat. The pair have made their fair share of runs and have forced this new stick to becoming one people want to wave.
