Where did the idea for BKB come from ?

It was Jonny’s idea actually. He was playing a lot of cricket, all year round, age 17 or 18 and was going through bats quite quickly, mainly from playing in the nets. You can get a cheapish bat to use in the nets against low quality balls, but when you get out in the middle, you want something a bit better, but that feels the same as the bat you’ve been training with.

The answer was being able to buy identical bats, in pairs, a low grade one for training and a higher grade bat for matches. The twin bat concept was where it started, because none of the big brands could offer it.

How easy was it to develop the concept into a business ?

A lot easier than I had expected ! Mainly because we had a contact who has worked in the bat industry for many years and supplies independent brands like ours. Jonny was very interested in the marketing aspect, especially using social media, and about to start Uni studying Sport Marketing. So, we thought the business would be a good case study for him to use for his degree.

We dreamt up the name, and a friend of Jonny designed the logo in about 45 minutes. We set up a web-site, found suppliers for stickers and grips and off we went

So where are the bats made ?

Our supplier, Tim, visits a woodyard in Kent once a week to choose the clefts. We tell him what our customers want and he selects the clefts to go into a computerised cutting machine. The machine has thousands of permutations for blade length, profile, edge sizes etc. Once the blades are cut to shape and the handle is fitted, Tim finishes the bat by hand.

How do customers find you ?

We started off spreading the word with friends and club members at Sanderstead. That expanded with social media and most importantly recommendations from our early customers.

When Sanderstead needed a new shirt sponsor, it was a great chance for us to support our club, and to market ourselves to a wider audience through Sanderstead CCTV.

What is the future for Black Knight Bats?

We are still really a cottage industry, and the key objective is to channel any profit we make back into the club through sponsorship. But, we love dealing with customers and making sure they get the bat they want, at a price they like.

A lot of our customers have never really thought about what they want from a bat. We enjoy helping them understand their options on weight, profile and pick up. Often these days blade length also means we can customize a bat to suit them. All our bats are made to order.

Sanderstead CCTV has certainly expanded our reach. We have had bat orders from the US, Australia, South Africa and all over Europe. Our most recent customer from Germany tells us that cricket is the fastest growing sport there. “Sechs mehr wie eine neun !” hasn’t quite got the same ring to it though…. (for those not fluent, that means “Six! More like a nine!)

Check out their website here.