Kit Week: Greatest ever Aussies and their bats

In Kit Week we're highlighting the memorable pieces of equipment that make cricket so great.

Here's a brief history of some of Australia's finest batters and the brands they used during their international careers.

Greg Chappell – Gray Nicolls 

Chappell began his first-class career using Slazenger bats but during his second season of County cricket in England he was presented with a Gray Nicolls by Len Newbury, a bat maker with Gray Nicolls.

And Chappell's long relationship with Gray Nicolls began. 

Throughout the early stages of his Test career Chappell would use the 'Crusader' before sporting a self-titled 'GC Master'. 

When the famous 'Scoop' was released in 1974, both Greg Chappell and his brother Ian jumped on board and through sheer weight of runs became synonymous with the design as the brothers entered their peak in the late 1970s. 

"Ian and I were the first ones to use the Scoop," Chappell told the Howie Games podcast. 

"It looked strange but it felt great. It picked up good.

"The thinking behind it was a little bit like the peripheral weight of a golf club, to spread the centre of the bat." 

The idea for the revolutionary 'Scoop' came from South African golf-club engineer Arthur Garner and British golf course designer Barrie Wheeler who took their inspiration from the evolution of hollow-backed golf irons that were beginning to replace the small-faced solid versions.

Its scooped back was calculated to distribute greater weight to the bat's perimeter, thereby enhancing the size of its 'sweet spot'.

Allan Border – Slazenger, Gray Nicolls, Symonds & Duncan Fearnley

Allan Border player more than 400 matches for Australia in a 15-year career so it's no surprise that the great Australian also had his fair share of bat sponsors. 

On Test debut in the summer of 1978-79 the left-hander used a Slazenger to face England, but by the following summer he had changed over to Gray Nicolls. Although the 'Powerspot' appeared to be serving Border well, for the 1982-83 summer he signed up with Symonds to use their 'Super Tusker'. 

Yet the bat that Border would become most well-known for was still to come. In 1985 the now-Test captain was ready for another change and his commitment to Duncan Fearnley would become a famous partnership. 

"They (Duncan Fearnley) were the best bats," Border told SEN radio. 

"I got to a point in my career where I'd fiddled around with cricket bats and I said … 'I'm sick and tired of trying to get bats that won't break'."

"I rang up Duncan Fearnley and got a deal done because I felt like they were the best bats."

Border used the Duncan Fearnley 'Magnum' in the mid 1980s but would eventually move onto a range of self-titled models, including the 'AB 10,000' that he would use in his final summer of 1993-94.

Dean Jones – County, Kookaburra

Whether it was asking Curtly Ambrose to remove his wristbands or breaking tradition by fielding in sunglasses, the ever-entertaining Dean Jones loved a bit of kit, and his cricket bat was no exception. 

Jones won the 1987 World Cup with Australia using a County, but it was an Australian brand that really wanted the services of the flamboyant batter.

For the 1988-89 summer, Jones changed the game when he signed a big deal with Kookaburra that had a flow-on affect for every other player in the system.

"The remuneration players were receiving for using one company's gear exclusively had skyrocketed since Dean Jones gained a 'landmark' deal from Kookaburra," Steve Waugh wrote in his autobiography.

It was a stroke of genius from Kookaburra, with Jones' popularity taking their brand to new heights.

“Very few players have ever been able to do it like that … to sell the brand by the way they played," former managing director of Kookaburra Rob Elliott told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The right hander had great success with the 'Super Legend', as you can see in the tweet above, but he would later wield the highly popular 'Ridgeback' as well. 

David Boon – Gray Nicolls

Almost as integral to the make-up of David Boon as his moustache and no-nonsense attitude was his Gray Nicolls bat.

Although he began with a Stuart Surridge in his early Sheffield Shield days, Boon was a Gray Nicolls man by his Test debut in 1984.

Boon's favourite innings of his career was the 164 not out he scored during the Ashes at Lord's in 1993 that he scored using a Gray Nicolls 'Ultimate'.

"This little fella, I've still got him," Boon said of the bat in question, on the Gray Nicolls Facebook page. 

"He did well because he was then part of two more hundreds in a row."

Boon's range of Gray Nicolls also included the 'Scoop', the 'Elite', the 'Powerplus and maybe most famously, the 'Powerspot'.

Mark Taylor – Symonds, Stuart Surridge, Puma

Mark Taylor had only played two Test matches leading into the 1989 Ashes series but he came a household name after it following his exploits in the middle with his Symonds 'Super Tusker'. He hit 136 in Leeds and 219 in Nottingham as Australia clinched a memorable and drought-breaking win.

But Taylor wouldn't stick with Symonds for much longer and for the 1992 home World Cup the left hander made the switch to Stuart Surridge, otherwise known simply as SS.

Taylor's SS of choice initially was the 'Mark 1', before settling on the 'Jumbo', which served him well for the next several seasons.

In stunning fashion, Taylor announced he was switching brand allegiances mid-way through the 1997 Ashes series. Perhaps coinciding with the end of the financial year, on the eve of the third Test due to commence on July 3, the Test captain confirmed a new deal with Puma Millichamp and Hall.

It was a smart move by the bosses at Puma, as little more than a year later Taylor scored his 334 not out in Pakistan.

The photo of the Australian proudly nursing his bat on his left shoulder in front of the Peshawar scoreboard instantly became an iconic image as Taylor had ended his innings level with Don Bradman as the then-highest Test score by an Aussie.

Steve Waugh – Symonds, Gunn & Moore, MRF

Early in Steve Waugh's career, including for his Test debut, Waugh used the Symonds 'Super Tusker', a bat that while popular in the 1980s, sadly faded off the batting landscape.

Ahead of the 1989 Ashes in England, Waugh was brimming with confidence having just signed a bat sponsorship with Gunn & Moore.

"I arrived in the UK fresh and ready to test out the gear I had received from my new sponsor; Gunn & Moore. The reputation of my new, English sponsors made me feel like I was just starting out on a new phase of my career," Waugh wrote in his autobiography.

And he was right, for the 12 years he'd use Gunn & Moore, Waugh scored 25 Test centuries at an average of 56.18.

The 2001 Ashes series marked Waugh's first series without Gunn & Moore and the Australian captain decided to enter the series with a 'cleanskin' bat because he "hadn't received any decent offers".

The Madras Rubber Factory (MRF) saw this and jumped at the opportunity to sponsor the veteran batter.

An unforgettable moment of Waugh's career came in the Sydney Test of the 2002-03 Ashes series, holding his MRF aloft following his final-ball century against England as the SCG went wild. 

 

Mark Waugh – Symonds, Slazenger

Things cricket fans relate with Mark Waugh: Gracefulness, elegance, Slazenger.

Once Waugh found success with the Slazenger, he never wavered from the Black Cat.

For close to a decade, Waugh stuck with the V100 but for the 1999 World Cup he used the orange V800, which he would also end his career with.

However, a little known fact about Waugh is that his international career began with Symonds, much like his twin brother Steve.

He used the 'Super Tusker' for his first handful of ODIs in the late 1980s but by the time Waugh made his Test debut in 1991 he was signed up with Slazenger.

Ricky Ponting – Kookaburra

Ricky Ponting signed his first Kookaburra sponsorship deal in early 1988 as a 14-year-old and stayed loyal to Kookaburra all the way until his retirement from cricket in 2012 as an almost 38-year-old.

In his early Test days Ponting used the 'Bubble' and at the 1999 World Cup he found success with the 'Ridgeback', a bat he reprised when playing in the 2020 Bushfire Bash charity T20. But his signature bat became the 'Kahuna' – using it in the prime of his career including the 2003 World Cup and the 2005 & 2006-07 Ashes series.  

Ponting's manufacturer came under scrutiny in 2005 for the thin strip of carbon and graphite that appeared on the back of the Kookaburra range that season, giving the bats a fresh full-black look.

While the stickers were eventually outlawed, Ponting maintains they made no difference whatsoever. 

"When I arrived in South Africa (in 2006), I organised for the stickers to come off and then used the same bats throughout the Test series," Ponting wrote in his autobiography. 

"It didn't make a shred of difference."

Long-time teammate and close friend Matthew Hayden admitted that he found Ponting's obsession with Kookaburra amusing. 

"In his eyes, any bat that wasn't a Kookaburra might as well have been a picket torn from a fence," Hayden wrote in his autobiography.

Matthew Hayden – Gray Nicolls, Mongoose

Matthew Hayden's career was synonymous with Gray Nicholls; from his first backyard bat, a present from his mum, to his final Test innings, Hayden used just one brand. 

In fact, the Hayden-Gray Nicolls connection was so strong that in 2003 when rival brands were rapidly getting thicker, bigger and lighter, Hayden approached the company with serious concerns and encouraged them to keep up with the competition.

"To their credit, the company spent a lot of money upgrading its bats," Hayden wrote in his autobiography.

Later that year, Hayden broke the world record for highest individual Test score, scoring 380 against Zimbabwe with his Gray Nicholls 'Gladius'.

Later in his career the 'Fusion' would become Hayden's signature stick. 

However, after his international career finished, Hayden signed as the brand ambassador for the innovative half-cricket-half-baseball bat, Mongoose. 

"I liked the project from all angles," Hayden wrote.

"I've always thought Twenty20 cricket was about entertainment, and that there was room for experimentation in many areas of cricket gear, bats included."

Hayden was on 19 when he first called for the Mongoose in a Chennai v Delhi IPL match in 2009, an innings that he finished on 93.

Michael Bevan – Puma, Sommers

For many people, Michael Bevan steering the Aussies home in a day-night ODI with a Puma 'Millichamp & Hall' was as good as cricket got.

The prolific Bevan was loyal to his reliable Puma for over a decade, having initially signed on as one of the company's first professional cricketers following their purchase of English bat maker Millichamp & Hall.

Ahead of the 2003-04 summer, Bevan made the move to Sommers Sports, an Australian-owned business, and would use them until his career ended. 

The left-hander was coy away when asked on Twitter if his Sommers 'X-Factor' was simply his old Puma in disguise.

Justin Langer – Gunn & Moore, Kookaburra

For the majority of his 13-year Test career, Justin Langer was one of the faces of Kookaburra.

But, on Test debut against the West Indies, the diminutive batter fronted up with a Gunn & Moore 'Maestro' in hand.

By the following summer though, Langer had been signed up by Kookaburra.

As Langer established himself in the Australia Test XI, he used an array of bats including the 'Bubble', the 'Sword', the 'Belta' and then in his final summer, the 'Genesis'.

Possibly controversially though, Langer admitted in his autobiography that he regularly used or stole Ricky Ponting's shoes, sunglasses and Kookaburra bats: "I reckon I would have scored five or six of my Test centuries with bats I'd borrowed or nicked off Punter."

Adam Gilchrist – Kookaburra, Puma

Adam Gilchrist's career began with a sponsorship from Slazenger but in 1994 he made a mid-season move to Kookaburra as the brand was the leading maker of wicketkeeping equipment.

"It was a logical fit … but it was a messy break-up with Slazenger, with me having to return my gear immediately, in the middle of a first-class season, and rush over to Kookaburra to get new stuff," Gilchrist wrote in his autobiography. 

Gilchrist made his name with Kookaburra, using the 'Ridgeback' and the 'Bubble' to destroy bowling attacks in the late 1990s with his attacking strokeplay.

Having purchased fabled bat manufacturer Millichamp & Hall, Puma reached out to Gilchrist in 2000 to make a statement in the cricketing world.

"(I was) proud that Puma had chosen me when they were trying to make their name in cricket," Gilchrist wrote.

Gilchrist's Pumas caused serious havoc over the next eight years until his international retirement, with the 'Millichamp & Hall' and the 'Ballistic' serving him well.

Michael Clarke – Slazenger, Spartan

Golden boy Michael Clarke burst onto the scene with a Test century on debut, in India no less, with his Slazenger 'V900' held proudly aloft and shown worldwide.

Following the retirement of Mark Waugh and Damien Martyn's switch to Kookaburra, Slazenger's popularity in Australia was on the decline. But Clarke changed all that.

Before long Clarke was using the 'V389', named in honour of Clarke's Baggy Green number, and the runs continued to flow.

Clarke's contract with the Black Cat was ending at the end of the 2011 calendar year, halfway through the summer and halfway through the Test series against India. The recently promoted Test captain and Slazenger couldn't agree to terms for a new deal and thus the right-hander played the following year's New Year's Test with a cleanskin bat.

Much to Slazenger's horror, Clarke piled on a triple century, raising his stickerless bat to the crowd and millions watching on no fewer than six occasions.

Shortly after, Spartan Sports signed up the skipper, a brand he would stick with until the end of his career after the 2015 Ashes.

Meg Lanning - Kookaburra, Gray Nicolls, New Balance

It was clear the exceptionally talented Meg Lanning was destined for great things, right from her international debut as an 18-year-old and a century in her second ODI just days later. Kookaburra was Lanning's first trusted ally to take down opposition attacks, using the Kahuna and the Blade.

Ahead of the 2013 Ashes however, the switch was made to Gray Nicolls, and she would use the x181 and f18 to great effect for the next couple of seasons.

But another Ashes series dawned, this time 2015, and another switch for the Aussie superstar. New Balance were the new kid on the cricket block and signing cricket's biggest names was their priority.

They got Lanning's commitment and what blossomed was a decade-long dream team, as Lanning smashed attacks all around the world with models like the TC1260 and Heritage.   

Steve Smith – Kookaburra, Slazenger, New Balance

There weren't too many interested in the brand of bat Steve Smith was using when he appeared on the international scene as most punters were interested in his bowling, having been compared to the legendary Shane Warne.

However, it quickly became apparent that his batting was no second-fiddle.

In his first few Test matches he used the Kookaburra 'Blade' but by 2013 the Slazenger 'V100' was his weapon of choice.

Following his breakout performances in the back-to-back Ashes series of 2013 and 2013-14, Smith shifted Slazenger for American sporting giant New Balance, who had recently made the move into cricket.

Smith, a self-confessed bat snuff, has used models like the 'DC 1080', the 'DC 1280' and is currently using the 'Heritage'.

David Warner – Gray Nicolls, Spartan, DSC

After David Warner burst onto the international scene with a blazing T20 innings against South Africa in 2008, it wasn't long before his sponsor Gray Nicolls made a bat in his honour – the 'Kaboom'.

Following the ball tampering scandal in 2018, Warner's decade-long association with Gray Nicolls finished as the left-hander opener started using Spartan stickers.

The highlight of his three years with Spartan was undoubtedly his triple century against Pakistan in Adelaide.

Then, ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE, a new name appeared on Warner's blade: DSC.

It was a sensational debut for his new brand, with Warner winning Player of the Tournament in Australia's successful campaign with DSC releasing 'The Bull', in honour of their marquee player.

Ellyse Perry – Kookaburra, Adidas, JP Gavan

When Ellyse Perry made waves as a dual-sport international as a 17-year-old, she used the Kookaburra 'Kahuna' in her first few ODIs for Australia.

Cricket's most popular female player briefly used the 'Genesis' before reverting to the trusty 'Kahuna' until 2011.

For the 2011-12 season though, Perry joined the list of high-profile players (including Kevin Pietersen and Sachin Tendulkar) to sign with German sports giant Adidas. During this period Perry went from bowling allrounder to bonafide allrounder with performances including a Test double century, six consecutive ODI half-centuries and a batting average of above 50 in both Test and ODI cricket.

Perry's weapon of choice was the Adidas 'XT', using the primarily black and white design for most of her stint, before switching over to the 'Incurza'.

Following a decade-long partnership with Adidas, Perry announced in July 2022 that she would begin using gear produced by Sydney-based independent bat maker JP Gavan, with the two parties to collaborate on a new range of accessible gear for all cricketers.