Player stories - Tom Powell

Player stories - Tom Powell

Tom was one of my earliest custom bat buyers. I suppose I already had an advantage, as Tom was a good friend, but having a player who would go on to play Minor Counties cricket for Oxfordshire, as well as become a multiple centurion in Home Counties cricket, was a big moment for me. I would like to think I helped him along the way, even if only in a small part, and in truth we were both learning and developing at the same time.

At this stage, I was still working with my first supplier of part-made bats. Before I owned a rip saw, surface planer, proper splicer, or press, I was buying pre-pressed and handled bats from other UK bat makers. I later moved to another UK-based manufacturer, from whom I eventually began buying raw clefts once I had the machinery and knowledge to do the initial processing myself. Some small brands still work this way, but to truly make players-grade bats and have full control over the final product, you need to be working from raw clefts. I knew then that this was still early days in my journey, just as it was in Tom’s.

That first bat was still a very good one. It had a tallish oval handle, a mid-to-low swell, and weighed around 2lb 9oz, dropping to 2lb 8oz after a couple of refurbs. We nicknamed it ‘The Mole’ due to a small dead knot on the back of one edge. It didn’t affect performance at all, but it gave the bat a distinctive birthmark. Sadly, The Mole has since hung up his shovel.

That bat served Tom well for around three seasons before we moved on to another. By the time the second bat came around, I was making bats from scratch, although I still had some clefts in part-made form that simply needed shaping to suit Tom’s preferences. This also allowed Tom to be more involved in the process - choosing the bat that felt and sounded right to him. A bit off here, a slightly rounder handle, leave some wood there, and we soon arrived at his ideal shape. Over the space of three years, his preferences had evolved into a slightly lower middle and a more rounded handle.

I am very grateful to Tom for the early trust he placed in my skills as a bat maker. Whether that trust came blindly or simply from friendship, it worked out well for both of us, and it is a journey I am proud to have been part of.

This is the first of the OX29 player stories. If you are currently using an OX29 bat and would like to share how you are getting on, please do get in touch. Every bat has a story, and this series is about sharing the journeys behind them.