You meet your heroes in all sorts of funny places. I met mine on a bus in Durham. To be honest it wasn't the first time i had met him it was just that a bus was the last place I expected to see him.
I don't know what sparked this little reminiscence. I think it was the kids watching Harry Potter. There is a scene in which the eponymous hero gets his magic wand. as the John Hurt explains a wand chooses you not the other way round and sure enough when Harry is given the right one all hell breaks loose and harry looks like he has just seen his first naked woman!

Well Cricket bats can be much like that. Me and my friend had just such an experience in a shop ran by my hero. I am not talking about seeing my first naked woman either just in case you were wondering. No i mean the realisation that with this bat great things will happen.

My friend had selected a new bat a Slazenger V12. My friend generously let me have a practice with this bat and I instantly decided it was a good bat and I must have one. I had been up until then a confirmed Gunn and Moore specialist. However my latest bat had been something of a disappointment. I am not a good bat by any stretch of the imagination but i can hit the ball with the middle of a bat from time to time and when that happens it is a mighty satisfying feeling. However with this bat i could never find a true sweet spot. The ball travelled all right but the vibration transmitted to my arms nearly ripped the bat from my hands.

With this V12 though even a shamateur like myself could feel the satisfaction of a ball leaving faster than it arrived. I had just started working and earning so what little money I had i felt I could spend on such a piece of Willow.

But it was not to be. I went along to my hero's shop and instructed him that I wished to purchase just such a bat as my mates V12. But, not unlike John Hurt, my sporting hero had a better idea. I was directed away from such an expensive bat. To this day I have not been quite sure why he sold the V12 to my pal without a murmur but told me to save my money.

However what came next was a moment just like Harry Potter. I was handed this bat and got into position just like i was about to face the bowler. And i raised the bat. In that instant i knew me and this bat were destined to do great things. From the moment the toe of the bat left the floor i felt i knew exactly where this bat were even though I was looking up the pitch. It was like magic!

Unfortunately it was a Kookaburra bat and that summer just about everybody who bought one pretty much had it fall apart in their hands upon striking the first ball.

I eventually bought the V12 off my mate when he upgraded and still own to this day. It is a fine bat but it still doesn't fell like that day i first picked up the Kookaburra