Masuri TON T Line Cricket Bat (Replacement)

I have waited until the situation was resolved to post about this, but on the 15th May my Masuri TON T Line Cricket Bat broke. To be fair this was more than a tad disappointing and not a little surprising that a 57 year old having not played for 33 years could break a £450 bat!

I must say that I had become a little disappointed with the bat. It had picked up several cracks and one in particular on the toe looked a little ominous. During the game I hit a ball and the ball sounded dead, and I noticed the crack had got bigger. I was going to replace the bat at the end of the over (one ball left) but the square cut off the last ball of the over saw a chunk fly past the fielder at point with the only real surprise being that it was the other side of the bat which had shown no signs of damage.

Later that evening by coincidence a friend who runs a popular Cricket Podcast shared a video of a cricket team in their dressing room banging their bats on the floor as they ‘sang’ their team song. He commented that it was no wonder bats broke so often, so I commented with a photo of my bat, tagged Masuri, and said it was not great that a 57 year old etc etc.

Masuri picked up the tweet and messaged me to email them the details, which I was going to do on the Monday, but it was impressive that they picked the tweet up so quickly.

Monday I messaged both Masuri and the company I bought the bat from, and within two days both had responded saying send the bat to them. I opted to send the bat direct to Masuri who sent a pre paid return slip, and sat back to wait.

A number of far more experienced friends than me held the view that it would probably be put down to poor knocking in and just one of the occupational hazards of hitting a hard ball hard with a piece of wood. I suspected they would be correct, but I did not believe it had not been knocked in well enough as a) I have knocked in 4 other bats this year so am pretty au fait with what is required and b) it had none of the classic tell tale signs of indentation on the blade indicating more knocking in was required.

Masuri continued to handle the issue well, confirming receipt of the returned bat, and last week confirming a replacement bat was being sent.

I asked the what they thought the issue was and got this back: Looking at where the break has taken place (along the line of the redwood) causing a weak spot. I would say this is the most likely cause.

Can’t say that I am much clearer but I appreciate the replacement and the speedy and professional way they resolved it.

But I do have a nagging theory I will share BUT bear in mind I am no expert ………….

It seems to me that this replacement bat is ‘current model’ which makes me wonder if the original was old stock and had got a little dry? I was surprised when looking at the broken part of the bat how dry and brittle the wood looked, but as I say …. am no expert.

Now all I need to do is knock this one in and then figure out of I am going to use it!!??