Looking for some new willow for the 2024 season? We've ranked 10 of the best cricket bats you can buy - from top of the range to more affordable models
Choosing the best cricket bat is always going to be down to personal preference. A 2lb 13oz behemoth with a massive middle may suit the biggest hitters, but players with greater finesse may favour something lighter with a more balanced pick-up.
To help you pick the perfect new batting partner - whatever your style, weight requirements and budget - we've tested a selection of the best bats on the market for the 2024 season and ranked them. They include some of the biggest brands around, such as Gunn & Moore, DSC, Kookaburra and Gray-Nicolls cricket bats.
Below you'll find brilliant bargain bats, our favourites from the big brands, a 'boutique' bat that left Alex Tudor speechless and an incredible TON bat at the top end of the chart.
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Rikki Clarke joins Huw Turbervill for a live Q&A on Thursday, November 28 at 7pm and it is exclusive to The Cricketer digital subscribers. Find out how you can watch and ask questions of the former England, Surrey, Warwickshire and Derbyshire allrounder here.
The cynical among you might think “well of course a top of the range boutique bat would come out on top”, but the smiles on the faces of all the testers at Reed’s School on the day told their own story.
The Cricketer editor Huw Turbervill’s head was certainly turned by the DKP, saying: “The mega mega thick edges would’ve put me off initially, but it was like a dream, a Lamborghini, a fabulous middle that can’t fail.”
There wasn't a single batter in the room who didn't have DKP at the top of their list, helped perhaps by its status as a relatively unknown boutique brand.
We’ll leave it to ex-England fast bowler Alex Tudor who summed it up perfectly: “Looks nice, plays better.”
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full DKP range
Being described as ‘very similar to the DKP’ is no mean feat for a cricket brand and the TON Nemesis III proved incredibly popular.
While not the cheapest of bats tested on the day (check out the TON Gladiator for a more cost effective bat), the Nemesis III nonetheless wowed across the board.
Huw Turbervill was a big fan: “You could have a ton of fun with this. I’d back myself to get to three figures fairly quickly with this ton. Lovely.”
Nick Friend, rarely lost for words, simply said: “Really nice. Good bat. Enjoyed it.”
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full TON range
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“Trust” was the buzzword from Alex Tudor for Kookaburra’s offering on the 2024 test day, and the Stealth hit a lot of the right notes.
At £200, the bat from the famous Australian manufacturer is the lowest price point entry in the top five and relatively lightweight at 2lb 9oz, with a 35mm edge.
Tudor was full of praise for the good weight and balance of the Stealth, which left him full of trust that he didn’t have to overhit deliveries.
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full Kookaburra range
The Kookaburra Ghost drew a similar knowing look from Alex Tudor - a “good trustworthy bat”, he said.
At £300 RRP it's at a higher price point than its Stealth stablemate, but at 2lb 7oz it is the lightest bat tested on the day.
Tudor added: “It will only get better the more you use it.”
The younger testers from Reed’s School on the testing day notably enjoyed using it, resonating as a bat they could get hold of.
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full Kookaburra range
Gray Nicolls is what it is. I know it, you know it, they know it.
Nothing much changes: even when they add a bit of colour, as in the aptly-named case of the Shockwave, it is still unmistakeably a Gray-Nicolls bat. You're shocked by the performance, perhaps, or by the light pick-up and the generous middle, but not by the iconic red strip down the splice.
So, there is nothing really that any reviewer could write to argue against the merits of such a respected, revered label, and there is nothing much contrary that those who tested the Shockwave would want to say in any case.
"The lime stickers make it look like some children's sweets," said Huw Turbervill. His eye was naturally drawn to the more traditional, toned-down Powerspot, with its retro feel. But it didn't take him long to be converted.
"I have to say, it slightly outperformed the Powerspot,” he admitted.
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full Gray-Nicolls range
For Gunn & Moore devotees, only a willow with that famous GM branding is going to be good enough to take out to the middle.
And of the GM cricket bats we tested this year, it was the Diamond 909 that came out on top - a 2lb 9oz blade that was favoured by none other than Ben Stokes in the 2023 ICC Men's World Cup.
At the top-end cost wise, the bat also changed perceptions of magazine editor Huw Turbervill who said: “Mustn’t grumble about this performance, a few went nicely.”
“Gunn & Moore have really gone up in my estimations with this bat,” he added.
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full Gunn & Moore range
If you aren’t in a position to go all out for the ‘best brand bat of the year’, Indian brand TON has your back with the much more accessible Gladiator IV.
A firm favourite among the testers - like its stablemate the Nemesis III - consistency was a key theme among the ratings for the Gladiator, which scored an average of 7.8 across three categories – pick up and feel, build quality and performance.
One Reed’s School pupil said the bat was his favourite of all those tested on the grounds that it “doesn’t feel like you’re wielding a whole tree”. He enjoyed the low middle too.
One of his classmates also complimented the middle and said it was “definitely in my top three” of all those tested.
While the Gladiator moniker may suggest something more heavyweight (or maybe the revived Saturday evening TV series), this combatant shows that the lighter models can surprise you if you give them a chance.
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full TON range
The heaviest of the bats tested at Reed’s School on the day but that didn’t necessarily translate across to the testers who described it as “not too heavy, had something when you hit it. Really grippy.”
The Newberry Navarone was a hit with the students who said it really packed a punch - as you might expect a heavier bat to do - but it was Nick Friend who flagged the bat maker’s consistency of production with previous editions and added: “It is quite true to the original branding, like the last one and has a pretty consistent pick up.”
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full Newbery range
Favoured by an array of stars across the men’s and women’s game, DSC are certainly proving popular in the professional game - whether you are Australia’s Ash Gardner or big-hitting Alex Hales.
Two of the Indian manufacturer’s products were tested on the day and the Blak came out on top: “It is off the middle where the DSC really delivers in terms of power; if you can connect with good timing the ball can really fly.”
Alex Tudor observed that it would perhaps suit a low-bouncing surface where the ball naturally tends to stay low. The Blak 4000 would be ideal in such conditions as it offers excellent control, precision and ability to generate power due to its low middle.
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full DSC range
Alex’s eyes lit up when he spied the Powerspot: “It’s Gower’s bat!”.
For nostalgic cricket fans, the Powerspot's position in history has been cemented by David Gower and Michael Atherton so there is no need for Gray-Nicolls to reinvent the wheel.
After all, we're talking about a company who have made producing bats for almost any skillset into an art.
On the day, build quality, thickness of the blade, and weight were all viewed as positives, as was the traditional, throwback design.
Lightweight, with a low bow and sweet spot, this is a wonderful all-rounder.
Read the Review | Buy the Bat | View the full Gray-Nicolls range
It's tempting in a cricket bat test to ask manufacturers to send us their top-of-the-range custom-made cricket bats that each cost a small fortune, and then marvel at how far we can hit with them in the nets.
But for most club and village cricketers, this really isn't going to be what your cricket bat buying experience is going to be like.
So we asked specialist cricket retailer Owzat Cricket to supply us with a selection of 'off-the-shelf' willows from a range of brands and price ranges. The models we've included above are readily available at most good cricket shops and online.
While some cricket shops have their own on-site nets, generally speaking you're not going to have the luxury of putting your new bat to the test before you get it back to your club. So it always feels like there's an element of risk.
To give you a real-life review of how the bats actually perform, we took them down to the impressive Reed School in Surrey to put them through their paces.
Every bat is tested through a range of shots by our testing team, which this year included ex-England pro Alex Tudor, members of The Cricketer staff and the stars of tomorrow studying at the School.
We then get them to rate the bats across criteria that include initial impressions, build quality, pick-up and feel, and performance, before we average everything out and come up with a final overall score.
Check out the full Club Cricket Guide 2024 here.
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