Gray-Nicolls

Founded in 1855 by Henry Gray as H. Gray & Sons in Cambridge, the company merged with L.J. Nicolls of Robertsbridge in 1940 to form Gray-Nicolls. The Sussex workshop has produced cricket bats by hand on the same site for over 80 years.

In 1974 Gray-Nicolls released the Scoop, the first bat with a hollow concave back. The radical profile redistributed weight to the edges and the sweet spot, and almost overnight became the defining shape of the modern bat. Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell adopted it; the entire industry followed.

Today Gray-Nicolls remains one of the few major brands still producing premium bats in England, with the Robertsbridge factory pressing English willow under the same name.