Why Choose Us?
Quality Assurance
Affordability
Worldwide Delivery
Customisation
Reliability
We Specialize in Manufacturing 100% handmade Cricket Bats, Protective Gear & Other Equipment since 1974.
- Competitive price and superior quality.
- The stable supply chain to guarantee prompt delivery
- Accept trial order, sample order and wholesale orders.
Sincere service (Effective pre-sale, communication & Good after sale service)
“It isn’t the Wood, Handle or Sticker that makes a quality Cricket Bat, But Knowledge, Craftsmanship, Expertise and Understanding the Batter’s Needs does.”
While AT GR8- Our Team of dedicated and innovative Staff are well educated and Work Day and Night to accomplish Our Goals. Our Strong R&D Team Work Tirelessly round the clock to suggest new changes, requirements and other developments. We Don’t Rest until Our Clients are satisfied with Our Performance and Services.
It’s Our Willingness to Go the Extra Mile Which Makes Us Stand out from the Crowd. If You Are a Growing Business We Will help you grow with fastest delivery throughout the world and Premium Quality Products from our Wide Range of SKUs. Because We Believe that we only Grow When Our Client Grows, and IF you Are an Already Established Name then we will be the adrenaline punch that Your Company Must Try.
Because We Are a Primary Manufacturing Company [From the Tree (Willow Tree) to the TURF] with our own production units established in the Heart of Kashmir – the Producer of Kashmir willow.
The Dealing is directly between the manufacturer and buyer and there is no intermediary in between, Thus Reducing the Cost.
Because we supervise the process of Manufacturing from getting the right logs to Purchasing Raw material to Final packaging. Our Staff keep an Eyes on every Detail precisely and Makes sure that Our Products are what we Claim them to be and that’s “Premium” following all the necessary Quality parameters of ISO 9001:2015 Certification.
English Willow vs. Kashmir Willow – Myth Buster
Today, Cricket is undoubtedly the most popular game in the entire world. Professional Cricket requires a lot of pieces of Sporting and Protective Gear & Equipment. The most prominent piece of Equipment being the Cricket Bat.
A Cricket Bat is made up of two things bonded together i.e., a Blade and a Handle. A Cricket Bat’s Blade is a wooden component carved out of a willow cleft which in-turn is a slice of a wooden log of a White Willow Tree. This White Willow is called Salix Alba Caerulea. This Variety of Willow is used as it is very tough and Shock Resistant. There are only two places in the entire world which produce high quality willow capable of producing Professional Cricket bats. One is The “United Kingdom” which produces ‘English Willow’ and the other is “Kashmir” that produces ‘Kashmir Willow.’ Willow trees have been growing in Kashmir as a native tree but a large-scale effort to plant this White Willow Variant called Salix Alba Caerulea in the region on an industrial scale was carried out during the 19th Century “British Rule in the Sub-continent” on the advice of Walter R. Lawrence & J.C. MacDonnell who were then the Head of the Forest Department of the State. On harvesting of the first batch of willow in Kashmir, it came to notice that the willow had mutated into a slight different variety due to different climatic conditions in England & Kashmir. The Kashmiri Willow turned out to be slightly brownish compared to almost white English Willow.
Today, Cricket is undoubtedly the most popular game in the entire world. Professional Cricket requires a lot of pieces of Sporting and Protective Gear & Equipment. The most prominent piece of Equipment being the Cricket Bat.
A Cricket Bat is made up of two things bonded together i.e., a Blade and a Handle. A Cricket Bat’s Blade is a wooden component carved out of a willow cleft which in-turn is a slice of a wooden log of a White Willow Tree. This White Willow is called Salix Alba Caerulea. This Variety of Willow is used as it is very tough and Shock Resistant. There are only two places in the entire world which produce high quality willow capable of producing Professional Cricket bats. One is The “United Kingdom” which produces ‘English Willow’ and the other is “Kashmir” that produces ‘Kashmir Willow.’ Willow trees have been growing in Kashmir as a native tree but a large-scale effort to plant this White Willow Variant called Salix Alba Caerulea in the region on an industrial scale was carried out during the 19th Century “British Rule in the Sub-continent” on the advice of Walter R. Lawrence & J.C. MacDonnell who were then the Head of the Forest Department of the State. On harvesting of the first batch of willow in Kashmir, it came to notice that the willow had mutated into a slight different variety due to different climatic conditions in England & Kashmir. The Kashmiri Willow turned out to be slightly brownish compared to almost white English Willow.
It may further be noted that a willow trees have a Male and a Female Variant, whereas the wood of the male variant should only be used for firewood and packing materials due to its hardness and heaviness in weight as compared to its female variant which is softer, whitish, lighter in weight and high in strength that makes is a perfect shock absorber. This would give batters maximum value for their shots. It’s Quality and Durability was found out to be higher than its counterpart English Willow.
Unfortunately, Kashmir Willow growers didn’t have the knowledge about the two genders of the tree and the bat makers of Kashmir since ages have been making bats out of the both genders / variants and mainly from the Male variant of the tree till now.
Knowledge & Craftsmanship
We at GR8 Sports Pvt. Ltd. got the aforementioned knowledge during our Training from 1) the J S Wright and Sons Limited (the largest English Willow Growers / Cleft Suppliers of the world in the UK & 2) SKUAST (Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences Technology-Kashmir). Thus we started recognising and hence marking the mature Female Variants of the White Willow Tree (Salix Alba Caerulea) in the month of May to be cut down in the months from September to April each year for Cricket Bats. Then these Female variant white willow Clefts are naturally Seasoned/ Sundried for 10 months and then in the State-of-Art Technology Seasoning Chambers for next 45 Days to get the desired moisture percentage of 8 to 12% which is the optimum level for making a good Quality Professional Cricket Bat (International Standard) out of this Cleft.
We at GR8 Sports Pvt. Ltd. got the aforementioned knowledge during our Training from 1) the J S Wright and Sons Limited (the largest English Willow Growers / Cleft Suppliers of the world in the UK & 2) SKUAST (Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences Technology-Kashmir). Thus we started recognising and hence marking the mature Female Variants of the White Willow Tree (Salix Alba Caerulea) in the month of May to be cut down in the months from September to April each year for Cricket Bats. Then these Female variant white willow Clefts are naturally Seasoned/ Sundried for 10 months and then in the State-of-Art Technology Seasoning Chambers for next 45 Days to get the desired moisture percentage of 8 to 12% which is the optimum level for making a good Quality Professional Cricket Bat (International Standard) out of this Cleft.
As such there is no difference in the Grade-I Quality of Kashmir Willow’s Female Variant and that of its counterpart English willow except the former is a little bit Brownish while the latter is a bit whitish in colour. Because it is the same tree that grows in England and was brought to Kashmir in 1917 by the British themselves.
Top Grades of both the Trees have visible grains and lighter weight. While the Kashmiri willow being harder has the maximum durability and shock absorbing features.
Cricket Bats Manufacturing companies in Kashmir have been making Gully Cricket Bats only, as they have been lacking knowledge of compression, seasoning, dimensions, ping, balance, sweet spot, shape, desired weight and most importantly ‘Craftsmanship,’ which is why the Cricketing world was unaware of the Made in Kashmir Cricket Bats’ capabilities. There is a famous proverb, “A bad workman blames his tools.” which means that the Cricket Bat manufacturers weren’t able to make a professional Cricket bat out of the Kashmiri Willow, they told the cricketing world that the Kashmiri Willow is good for Gully Cricket Bats only. Whereas it was their incapability, lack of knowledge and expertise that they tried to hide by defaming the material (Kashmiri Willow). Lest we forget, it isn’t the raw material that is to be blamed but the craftsman who has no knowledge or expertise. Also huge profits out of the English willow drove manufacturers to concentrate on English Willow as the Kashmiri Willow is cheapest and less profitable. Otherwise some of the Most Famous Batsmen of the game have preferred Kashmiri willow like: Sir Vivian Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh to name a few. While Sachin Tendulkar has scored his 35th Test Century with a Kashmiri Willow bat which was made by his regular manufacturer from Meerut, India.
Our USP
We at GR8 Sports make our Kashmiri willow cricket Bats only out of the Female variant of the White Willow Tree, which gives our bats better Strength, Durability, Ping, Balance, Moisture, Shock Absorbing Capability, Larger Sweet-spot and mesmerizing Sound above all the “Stroke” which is incomparable/unbeatable .
We are the only Company in the world to Use Computer Monitored Compression-CMC technology which gives every single fiber of Our Cricket Bats’ wood linear compression and gives our Bats ping and distributed stroke from the shoulders to the toe.
Nowadays, Batters be it International Players, League Cricketers, Domestic, Club or Cricket Academy ones prefer to play with our Products because of our USPs that make us stand tall in the market among other makers and Brands.
We at GR8 Sports have the world’s best craftsmen and R&D Department who make the world’s best Handmade Cricket Bats and other Protective Gear & Equipment that too cheapest in Prices.
We at GR8 Sports make our Kashmiri willow cricket Bats only out of the Female variant of the White Willow Tree, which gives our bats better Strength, Durability, Ping, Balance, Moisture, Shock Absorbing Capability, Larger Sweet-spot and mesmerizing Sound above all the “Stroke” which is incomparable/unbeatable .
We are the only Company in the world to Use Computer Monitored Compression-CMC technology which gives every single fiber of Our Cricket Bats’ wood linear compression and gives our Bats ping and distributed stroke from the shoulders to the toe.
Nowadays, Batters be it International Players, League Cricketers, Domestic, Club or Cricket Academy ones prefer to play with our Products because of our USPs that make us stand tall in the market among other makers and Brands.
We at GR8 Sports have the world’s best craftsmen and R&D Department who make the world’s best Handmade Cricket Bats and other Protective Gear & Equipment that too cheapest in Prices.
Our Motive is to provide the cricketing world with the best in quality sports goods (International Standard) and cheapest in price.
So, choose wisely and say it loud
