Hand Crafted custom made cricket bats from English willow. Dear friends,
Per usual, this is a little (or lot) verbose, just like me!
No pressure to read it all, I’ve highlighted the highlights. If there’s nothing good on Netflix and you feel like a longer peruse, grab a cup of joe and enjoy! First I want to say thank you – for believing in our company and supporting us as we have worked to build something good. Last April we celebrated our fifth anniversary (woot!), our fourth outside the walls of my tiny apartment, and I can h
onestly say that not a day has passed where I haven’t felt extreme gratitude for all of you. How many people get to live their dream? I am one of the lucky few who do, and for that I’m so thankful. I started making cricket bats merely as a hobby. Being a cricketer (actively playing club cricket and representing
Romania’s national cricket team) I was always passionate about every aspect of cricket including cricket bats. Back in 2009, I started to read about the intricacies of a cricket bat. I wanted to know what makes a top of the line bat, how it is graded, the grain structure, willow density, balance, pickup and ping to name a few of the many aspects of bat-making that I’ve learnt since then. Thanks to the internet, I learned a great deal over the next few months. I watched several videos over and over again, specially those of Julian Millichamp and Andrew Kember. During this period I also acquired several top of the line cricket bats to understand what made them so special. After watching me spending hours and hours online browsing cricket forums and watching bat making videos as well as the cost of these expensive bats, my wife Oana suggested that I should try to make my own bat. So I bought some basic second-hand tools from the UK and a part made cleft. We took a one-week vacation to a secluded mountainous location in Romania, where I started the journey of making my first ever cricket bat. Without a workbench, blunt tools and no experience, it was a long struggle where I spent hours every day to shape my first ever bat. Even though it was a struggle full of sweat and blood it was so fulfilling seeing the cleft forming into a cricket bat. By the end of the week, I completed handcrafting my first ever cricket bat, 2.11 in weight, moderate edges, high spine and no concaving. I lent this bat to my teammates and to my surprise it
became the most popular bat among them. Eventually my club bought the bat and ordered three more to be made for the club. Later, the bat performed so well during international matches that several requests came from cricketers in neighbouring countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland. ST Cricket Bats was formally launched in 2012. Over the years, I have evolved as a bat maker. ST Cricket Bats has grown in popularity in Eastern Europe and I have received orders from countries including the UK, the US, Canada and New Zealand. In the first years, I began making bats on a small balcony of my apartment using unconventional methods as I had no formal training of hand crafting a cricket bat, let alone ever working in carpentry. It has been a tedious and long process of gradual self-learning that taught me to create a top of the line cricket bat. ST Cricket bats were always top performers, but with each passing year I improved and learned the art of making a cricket bat that is not just a top performer but also is finished as well as any top of the line cricket bat. Over the years, I improved on finer aspects of bat making. My methods remained unconventional yet effective as far as the finished product is concerned. ST Cricket bats went through several makeovers over the years. The stickers were changed as well as the logos. ST Cricket has since relocated from the small balcony to a rented workshop, and in 2019 ST Cricket will have its own fully functional workshop. It has been a fulfilling experience so far that I could learn and create something that I am so passionate about. Oana has been the driving force behind what ST Cricket is at present. She has supported me throughout my ups and downs and has been the biggest admirer and critic of my work. She has captured the journey of ST Cricket by taking countless incredible photos of almost every ST Cricket bat during it's making as well as handling the financial and legal aspects of the company, leaving me solely to focus on what I love most –making cricket bats! I’ve also been fortunate to have received the support of my cricket mates in Romania, the Romanian Cricket Federation and several cricketers from eastern European countries without which ST Cricket would never have grown to its present form. I would also specially like to mention Custom bats Forum where I posted my bat making queries, photos and videos and received constructive feedback and criticism, which helped me immensely as a bat maker. I hope my story will motivate a cricket enthusiast like me to take the next step and try making his first ever cricket bat and start his own bat making journey! As always, I’ve probably given way more information than you want. We will always be honest and transparent with you and show you our heart. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Thank you, again, for your amazing support. We truly wouldn’t be here without you. Warmly,
