What is Serbian Willow and does it make good cricket bats?

February 28, 2018

Serbian willow is very similar to English willow and yes, the bats that we have tested have proved to be every bit as good as English willow bats. Find out more below.

Buy a Serbian Willow Custom Edition Cricket Bat here

Serbian willow is English willow (Salix Alba) that has been grown in Serbia, a climate very similar to England giving it comparable properties to the traditional English willow. You may have heard of Kashmir Willow – which is English willow nurtured in India. KW bats are extremely brittle and mainly used for soft balls due to the climate that it’s grown in.

The main characteristics of Serbian willow is its high density, narrow grain structure (there may be a lot of heartwood) which due of the length of time that the willow has been grown for. Compared to English willow, where trees are growing for shorter times each year – EW bats with lots of grains are harder to come by.

Due to the higher grain structure, Serbian willow bats are likely to be heavier for the same size of English willow bats – however due to the amount available, there is a lot of high quality and low-density clefts available at the moment, meaning that you are likely to get a big bat for the weight.

Above image shows the face of a typical Serbian Willow Cricket Bat

Above image shows the massive profile with big edges and spine of a Serbian Willow Cricket Bat

Each Serbian willow bat goes through the same bat making process as our English willow bats, meaning that the willow is stored at an optimum level to retain the moisture, pressed to perfect and then the standard cleft is made in to a bat of your bespoke shape with our Custom Edition Bat. This willow has been extensively tested and it’s proved to be durable and provide superb performance – making it very similar to English willow.

It’s brand new to the cricket industry this year and we’re delighted to be one of the first brands in the UK to offer this to the public. If you’re looking for a bat with a lot of grains, or looking to try something new – then we would recommend our Custom Edition Serbian Willow Cricket Bats, as they are a cheaper alternative to our English willow bats.

Prices for our adult Serbian Willow Cricket Bats start from £179.00 - Find out more information and purchase here.

If you have any further enquiries, please contact us hello@pryzmcricket.co.uk and we’d be able to advise you.

Making Top Quality Cricket Kit More Affordable

February 27, 2018

In 2018, cricket kit is as expensive as it ever has been with RRP’s of top end cricket bats more than £600 from the likes of New Balance, Millichamp and Hall, Kookaburra, Chase, Gray-Nicolls and many others. At PRYZM Cricket, we have purposely lowered our prices to make it more affordable to own top quality cricket kit.

Our current top-end stock cricket bat is the Pro Edition, which is a handmade grade 1 English willow cricket bat that's only £279.00. This bat is on par, if not better than the bats that you will find at over £600 from the brands mentioned previously. You can also get a G1+ bespoke cricket bat to your specifications for only £324.00 with our Custom Edition.

We have even reduced our own RRP’s, as our top-end G1+ bats were over £100 more expensive last year but the quality this year is better than ever before. Previously our RRP’s were lower than the top-end mainstream brands, but they were still expensive and that was to position ourselves as a high-end brand in the market. Now, we hope to let our kit do the talking – we’re extremely confident that our kit is some of, if not the best out there and by making it more affordable, we hope to break more people away from the status quo.

Are these top-end mainstream bats better than PRYZM Cricket bats?

No, we believe our bats to the some of the finest cricket bats in the world – so they’re on par, if not better than these bats mentioned above.

Whilst we don’t know the full processes of the mainstream brands, a lot of their bats will be mass made in the sub-continent, compared to ours that are all handmade with care in the UK. From storing the willow in temperature controlled rooms which maintain optimum moisture levels, sourcing the best quality handles, carefully pressing every blade to perfection, hand-crafting each bat and finishing to outstanding standards - we take care in every process to produce the best cricket bats we can.

We’ve heard of some brands leaving willow baking in the sun to make them as light as possible, so they can make bigger bats, but this leaves the bats extremely prone to premature breakages with no moisture in the willow.

Ultimately, all top-end cricket bats are generally going to be made from the same raw materials – so there are other factors as to why these mainstream brands very expensive compared to ours such as big-money sponsored players, more mouths to feed and profit.

Why pay double the price for a top-end bat?

Every brand will have their own designs which make them unique, such as different profiles, the amount of concaving, different coloured stickers and so on – making it a great market for a consumer given that there is so much choice.

This means that everyone is going to have their own favourite designs, shapes etc… which influence what we perceive to be the best cricket bat. One person’s favourite bat could be a £600+ bat from a mainstream brand because they really get on with it and it installs them with confidence to be able to play to the best of their ability – however that same bat may feel like a plank to someone else.

Our core ethos of our bats is that they are made to score runs and be used by anyone, as we design and make our bats to perform, be well balanced and to be made well to give you the confidence to perform, which cannot be said for some mainstream brands.

With a PRYZM Cricket bat, we cannot guarantee you the runs – but we can guarantee you a top-quality cricket bat at an affordable price.

Please see the PRYZM Cricket Bat range here.

English Pittards Leather and Why We Use it On Our Cricket Batting Gloves

October 25, 2017

What is English Pittards Leather?

Pittards leather palms feature on every one of our adult cricket batting gloves as it is the premium material for palms on cricket gloves. You may see a lot of the premium batting gloves with Pittards leather palms but you're not sure what it is and why it demands the highest prices? In this short blog post, we want to explain that and why we have chosen this material to be on our range of batting gloves.

In 1826, Charles Pittard established Pittards, a specialist leather company based in Yeovil who produce leathers for sectors such as Aviation, Fashion, Military, Outdoor Performance, Sports and many more. There are different types of Pittards leather; however we use English Pittards WR100X leather on our cricket gloves which is the most popular for premium cricket batting gloves.

Find out more about Pittards Leather here

What is English Pittards Leather on Cricket Batting Gloves?

Above shows an image of a brand new set of our Limited Edition PRYZM Cricket Gloves with English Pittards Leather palms.

Why do we use it on our Cricket Batting Gloves?

The main reason why we have chosen this material is that the leather is extremely soft, lightweight, long-lasting, comfortable and tensile which gives excellent feel when gripping a cricket bat. English Pittards Leather is treated during the tanning process with a special water repellent, which allows the water vapour to pass.

Unlike cheaper alternatives, English Pittard leather palms stay soft and supple after many uses whereas other leather palms tend to stiffen over time as the sweat gets absorbed and therefore dries in to the material, becoming hard. So even after a full season of use, our gloves with the Pittards Leather palms will be just as soft and tensile as the day you purchased them.

Used PRYZM Cricket Batting Gloves with Pittards Leather Palms

Above shows an image of a pair of used PRYZM Bravura Cricket Batting Gloves. They have been used for about 1 and a half season and are still in extremely good condition except for slight discolouration due to the blue grip on the cricket bat.

Overall, cricketers of varying abilities could go through many pairs of gloves in one season if they have palms made from other types of leather palms. With the use of English Pittards Leather on our cricket gloves, they are designed to stay soft and supple for a long time - making them the premium choice for serious cricketers and professional cricketers.

View our range of batting gloves here

PRYZM Cricket @ Worcestershire T20 Home Fixtures

June 29, 2017

We're pleased to announce that we will have a stall at all Worcestershire Rapids T20 Home Fixtures where you can meet us, purchase and check out our kit and see wht exclusive offers we have available! With the first game kicking off against local rivals Birmingham Bears which has already sold out!

Pairing with Blade Sports (our main local retailer that's based in Evesham), we will have our whole range of kit available (From our brand new Exclusive Range to our Clothing) at each of the home fixtures at New Road where you can purchase the kit on the day (card payments accepted).

There will be a number of our Handmade Cricket Bats available that you can purchase, pick up or have a waft around with, however if we haven't got the specific weight, grade, model that you want - you can order it on the day and we'll make the bat and post it to you once it's complete (this usually takes 10 days).

We should find us over by the nets which is where the main food stalls are (and most importantly the main bar) based behind the Basil D’Oliveira Stand.

Click here buy tickets for the Worcester Rapids T20 Games, we hope to see you there!

2017 Range Photoshoot

February 15, 2017

On February 13th, we went to Worcestershire Cricket Club and Kidderminster Victoria Cricket Club taking some professional photos of our kit which will be used in a number of ways throughout the year. Whilst doing the shoot I took some photos on my phone camera, so you can see some outtakes.

I'll let the images do the talking, enjoy!

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