Best Cricket Bat Brands: A UK Comparison

There is no best cricket bat brand, because every major brand presses willow from the same handful of English growers and the bat that suits you is decided by profile, weight and pick-up rather than by the sticker. What differs between brands is where and how the bats are made, how deep each range goes, how the grading is labelled and what you pay for a given grade. This is a comparison of the fifteen brands we stock on exactly those points, with our current stock figures, so you can pick a brand for the right reasons and then pick the bat for your game.

What Actually Differs Between Brands

• Where the bat is made. A few brands press and shape in England; most make in India or Pakistan, and several well-known labels have their bats made by another company entirely. None of that predicts quality, but it is worth knowing when a price looks too good.
• Range depth. Gunn and Moore, Kookaburra and Gray-Nicolls each give us sixty to ninety bats across junior and senior sizes; Salix gives us three, all senior.
• Grading and pricing. Each brand labels its grades differently and the scales do not line up, which our willow guide explains. The useful comparison is the price band a brand's senior bats actually occupy.
• Profile families. Every brand has its own set of shapes, and a Kookaburra Kahuna, a Gray-Nicolls Classic and a GM Diamond are all mid-blade bats with different balance. Brand loyalty usually means profile loyalty.

The English Makers

Gunn and Moore. Founded in Nottingham in 1885 by the England batter William Gunn and the businessman Thomas James Moore, and part of the Unicorn group since 1968. GM is the deepest senior range we carry, 62 senior bats from £119.99 to £879.99 with a median around £285, plus 29 junior bats. The 404 grade is where entry-level senior English willow starts in our range, and the Noir, Diamond, Mana and Brava families cover most profiles.

Gray-Nicolls. Grays was established in Cambridge in 1855; Nicolls began making bats at Robertsbridge in East Sussex in 1875 and supplied W.G. Grace; the two names joined in 1942. The company grows its own willow, still makes its bats at Robertsbridge, and remains owned by the Gray family in its sixth generation. We hold 70 bats, 43 senior from £139.99 to £629.99, with the Classic, Havoc, Imperia, Neocore and Gem ranges, the last being the women's range with a shorter blade.

Newbery. Began in the early 1900s in East Sussex with Len Newbery; John Newbery founded the present company in 1981 and is credited with the steel spring handle. Bats are handmade in the UK, the firm is based in West Sussex and supplies the ECB across the professional game. A small range with us: nine bats, eight senior from £214.99 to £489.99.

Chase. Founded in 1996 in Hampshire and made by hand at Dummer Down Farm. Dan and Julie Swaine bought the company from the former England batter Robin Smith in 2007, and in November 2025 it was acquired by the willow grower Rory Waterer, with Swaine staying on as master bat maker. The grower now owns the bat maker, which is a first among the English brands. We hold 25 bats, 11 senior from £219.99 to £519.99 and a deep junior range. Chase's four profiles each come in Select, Player and Elite grades, the clearest ladder of any brand.

Salix. The Salix Cricket Bat Company was incorporated in Kent in February 1990 and is Andrew Kember's workshop at Langley near Maidstone, where every bat is made by hand; Kember has said a good year is a couple of thousand bats including juniors. We hold three, all senior, at £319.99 to £414.99.

Hunts County. County bats were first made at St Neots in Huntingdonshire by the Trimmins family in 1904, and the factory moved to Huntingdon in 1983. Twelve bats with us, nine senior from £199.99 to £434.99.

Reporting in 2026 put the number of traditional English willow bat makers left in Britain at around twenty. Four of them are in the list above, which is part of why their prices start higher than the subcontinental brands' and why their stock with us is thinner.

Kookaburra and the Subcontinent Makers

Kookaburra. Founded in Melbourne in 1890 by A.G. Thompson and still family-owned; the Australian government's trade agency confirms it still manufactures in Australia and opened premises in India in 2014 for the local market. Kookaburra does not state where its bats are made, so we do not either. It is our largest range at 93 bats, 52 senior from £164.99 to £789.99 and 41 junior, across the Kahuna, Ghost, Rapid, Aura, Prism, Stealth and Nickel families, with the number after the name marking the grade.

SG. Sanspareils Greenlands, established in Meerut in 1931. SG makes bats under its own name and, according to The Cricket Monthly, for various international brands as well. Ten bats with us, eight senior from £244.99 to £594.99.

TON and SS. Sareen Sports was founded in Meerut in 1969 by N.K. Sareen; TON is its premium label. The Cricket Monthly notes that MS Dhoni's World Cup-winning six in 2011 came off a Reebok-branded bat made by SS. Nine bats with us, seven senior from £299.99 to £499.99.

DSC. A family firm in Punjab that began in the early 1980s making bats for other brands before putting its own name on them, which is why its pricing undercuts the English equivalents at a given grade. Our third-largest range at 63 bats, 41 senior from £159.99 to £629.99. The DSC guide explains its reversed range numbering.

CA. Founded in Sialkot, Pakistan, in 1958, and credited with the first curved-blade bats in 1979. Twelve bats with us, nine senior from £104.99 to £499.99, which makes CA the cheapest entry into senior English willow in our range.

MRF. The Chennai tyre company's sports division. MRF does not disclose who makes its bats and neither will we. Two senior bats with us at £129.99 and £159.99.

New Balance. An American footwear company whose bats are made by F.C. Sondhi in Jalandhar, as The Cricket Monthly reported. 18 bats with us, 11 senior from £179.99 to £419.99, the narrowest senior range of any major brand. The New Balance guide covers its four ranges.

Adidas. Made in India; the manufacturer is not disclosed. Ten bats with us, seven senior from £209.99 to £469.99.

IXU. A South African brand with Faf du Plessis as its ambassador, brought to the UK in 2022. Six bats with us, three senior from £244.99 to £574.99.

Brands by Senior Price Band

Our stock on 14 October 2026, short handle and long handle sizes only. Kookaburra's cheapest figure excludes a £32.99 training bat.

How to Choose a Brand

1. Start with the band, not the brand. Decide what you will spend, then look at which brands have depth there. At £150 to £200 that is GM, DSC, Gray-Nicolls and CA. At £300 to £400 almost everyone. Above £500, GM, Kookaburra, DSC, Chase and IXU.
2. Then the profile. Each brand's families sit at a different place on the blade. Our guide to sweet spots and profiles explains low, mid and high middles, and the brand reviews below go family by family.
3. Then the pick-up. Two bats from different brands at the same weight and grade will feel nothing alike. Lift both.
4. English-made if it matters to you. Gray-Nicolls, Newbery, Chase, Salix and Hunts County make in England and charge for it. Nothing in the willow says they play better, and plenty of county cricketers use subcontinental bats.

For the model-by-model picks in each band, see our best cricket bats roundup. For single-brand depth there are reviews of Gunn and Moore, Gray-Nicolls, Kookaburra, SG, Chase, CA and Newbery, a comparison of the Indian brands, and a comparison of the four smaller English and Pakistani makers, Salix, CA, Chase and Newbery. Everything we stock is in the cricket bats collection.

FAQs: Cricket Bat Brands

Which cricket bat brand is best? None is best. Every major brand presses English willow from the same growers. Choose a price band, then a profile, then the bat that picks up best in your hands.

Which cricket bat brands are made in England? Gray-Nicolls at Robertsbridge, Newbery in West Sussex, Chase in Hampshire, Salix in Kent and Hunts County in Huntingdon. Gunn and Moore is a Nottingham firm; we have not verified where its bats are currently made.

Which brand is best for beginners? The one with a bat at the right size and weight in your budget. In our range CA, GM, Gray-Nicolls and DSC all have senior English willow under £160, and GM, Gray-Nicolls, DSC and Kookaburra have junior Kashmir willow under £80.

Are Indian cricket bat brands good? Yes. SG, SS and DSC make bats for other brands as well as their own, and their senior ranges sit at the same grades and prices as the English makers' mid-range.

Who makes New Balance cricket bats? F.C. Sondhi in Jalandhar, according to The Cricket Monthly's reporting on the bat trade. Outsourcing is normal; MRF and Adidas do not disclose their makers at all.

Sources

Who makes bats for which brand is from The Cricket Monthly. Salix's workshop and output are described by Wisden. Chase's 2025 acquisition is reported by The Manufacturer, 11 March 2026. Founding dates and locations are from each maker's own site or Companies House. Stock figures are ours on 14 October 2026.