Found this at salvos and as they had no idea of any real value (maybe neither do I) got a sneaky little deal. At least I think I did, but this isn’t about money.
Brought back heaps of memories as a kid. Such warm fuzzy feelings. The older I get, the more I realise I should have held into this type of stuff and the more of it I have hanging around the better I feel.
Probably not that exciting for some but I’m sure there’s other stuff people get that equates to such fuzziness.
Someone I played cricket with as recently as 3 years ago was still using his GN Scoop he got in the early 80s. It was older than me! And it still went well. Those bats definitely were made to last. Good acquisition!
My first “real” cricket bat (as opposed to the bat grandpa fashioned for me from an old weatherboard offcut and a milk churn as stumps) was a GN Single Scoop.
County’s, Duncan Fearnley’s , Gray Nich’s, GM Maestro’'s, SS Jumbo’s, , Super Tuskers. Absolute golden days of cricket.
I had this awful Indian thing that wasn’t even all pro standard. It was from my grandma, too heavy, no middle. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings so I dealt with it for a couple of years before getting a Duncan fearnley.
Always in awe of any kid who had a scoop. Or god for bit a double scoop.
Then you’d sit there watching boonie carve attacks with one and you’d think that’s all I needed to become test match standard.
I just hit an old leather case with pictured above. So many good vibrations.
Yeah, the double scoops had some cred. So did the butterfly scoops (quads) , but as I mentioned in the cricket thread a month or two back , my Dad had a theory that the butterfly would weaken the toe too much and indeed we subsequently saw a couple of instances where the butterfly scoops cracked and had to be swapped.
I had to smile at the talk when Marnus’ started using the “retro” kookaburra this summer. That wasn’t true retro. The burra’s came after the ones we were using as kids.
My best mate still has his old man’s “Crocket” bat. Now that’s an old bit of timber.
If we’re talking collectables in general, my true “collection” thing is Biggles books. Quite a decent collection too, but it’s taken me 35+ years and eBay has ruined things. I could easily finish it off, but I refuse to do it via ebay for 1) the prices , and 2) it’s too easy and removes the entire “hunt” from the equation.
I also have an unfortunate (from my wife’s/family/household clutter viewpoint) ability to accumulate cameras. I wouldn’t call it a collection as such, there’s no aim or carefully considered targeting of it. Just random purchases on a whim in various op shops and the like, lol .
Oh, and I have two Triumph motorcycles in the shed. One is a general daily ride, the other is a bit more “special” and might be worth something one day. I’ll probably have carked it by then, but hopefully the kids or more likely grandkids might one day have someone oggle it and say “woah, a Thruxton 1200 in mint condition from early this century!? How much do you want?” .
The marketing for those things was almost unnecessary.
Right up to bevo and his Millichamp (before puma bought them) all you had to do was watch those guys cut sick with one and it was “muuuuum, can I get one of those for birthday or Xmas and if it’s expensive can we make it a joint present (December baby) me….”
AB (DF), Viv (slaz) Richie Richardson (SS, all though I swear I only got those because they never wore helmets.
Deanos bubble, gowers GN.
Must have been a nightmare for parents keeping up.
My current bat - occasionally I still roll out for a vets game - is an old Callan that I bought probably mid-90’s when Ian had his shop out in Ringwood.
Magnificent middle on it. Barely gets the ball off the square anywhere else though.
I harped on for a while , wanting a V100(?) coz Viv had one and the big cat decal looked cool.
Never got one.
The DF’s at my junior club are my most vivid “want” . Definitely associated with Border. Only a few kids had them, but those and the Maestros had the most mystique. Never got either of those either, lol.
But I was always an opening bat and all the way through I’ve preferred a lighter bat / pickup. My Scoop served me well for many years. Eventually it became our group of mates stuff-around net bat , was obviously already a junior size and got so worn down it was probably like a rounders bat!
