Meet the cricket bat master keeping a great tradition alive

If you’re a club cricketer, then April brings the start of a new season.

Time to dust off the whites, haul the damp covers off the outground wicket and feel the sensation of leather on willow once again.

It also marks the busiest period of the year for Ian Sampson, who has spent more than 50 years handmaking cricket bats. Some of the sport’s biggest names have been his customers, alongside village team stalwarts.

He is one of a dwindling number of master craftsmen still keeping the traditional methods of bat-making alive, as the vast majority are now manufactured overseas.

“There’s one or two that have started up in the last few years, but there’s not many proper bat makers about now,” Ian says, chatting at his wood-strewn workshop in Wakefield, where he works under the brand name Warrior.

“It’s a job that isn’t a job for me really.

“I can honestly say I’ve never got up on a morning and thought, ‘I don’t want to go to work today’. Every day is a little bit different.”

Ian started his career at sporting goods manufacturers Slazenger as a 15-year-old in 1972, just days after he left school.

He worked for the company at their bases in Horbury and Barnsley for 30 years, before being made redundant and then setting up his own bat-making business with his friend Fred.

While Fred retired around six years ago, Ian’s innings in the trade continued, with the odd helping hand from his son in the workshop, and his daughter, who looks after his social media.

Understated and genial, Ian insists he gets as much pleasure out of making bats for young children and their parents as he did for the Test match greats of the 1980s and 90s he supplied.

“Jacques Kallis, Alec Stewart, Mark Waugh and Viv Richards have all handled a bat that’s been through my hands,” the 68-year-old says. “Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher too.

“Slazenger were enormous in cricket back then.

“But it’s good regardless of who’s got the bat. I still get satisfaction out of seeing a seven or eight-year-old lad come in with their dad and then play in the juniors at (nearby cricket clubs like) Carlton, Oulton or Rothwell.

“I’m making bats for young lads now whose parents and grandparents I made bats for.”

When he is not working through a raft of repairs as he is currently, Ian can often make “two or three” bats a day. Many of them are customised at the request of a club or county player who might like “special lengths, shoulders and toes”.

“Every one is a challenge,” Ian says. “A lot of other people like to just come in to the workshop and take a bat off the shelf. I’ve always got plenty in stock of various weights and sizes.

“But if anybody wants anything that bit special then I can sort it.”

The bat-making process starts with Ian selecting the willow from his trusted supplier, planing it, fitting the handle and then shaping the shoulders.

“One of the most important aspects though is the pressing,” Ian adds.

“The way I do it is a closely guarded secret. But every single one is pressed individually and then tested with a Test match ball.”

Ian’s customers flock to West Yorkshire from as far away as Devon, Wales and Ireland in search of a bat that will help them put runs on the board.

With professional cricket increasingly awash with cash, however, Ian is not always able to stump up enough to match the big bucks other manufacturers will pay for their name to be on kit.

“Unfortunately these days with the endorsements the top players get, it’s difficult for me to provide sponsorship to them,” he explains.

“There’s some bats out there that I made, but they just haven’t got the Warrior decals on them.”

A man of many talents, Ian played professional rugby league for Bramley and Hunslet in the 1970s and 1980s alongside his job at Slazenger.

He then moved into coaching, taking a Great Britain under-18 team on a tour to Australia.

“Sport has been my life,” he says.

His days of playing cover drives from the crease at Carlton Cricket Club may be behind him – “my knees are shot from rugby” – but he remains there as an active committee member, vice president and spectator.

With his career score having passed the half-century mark and now standing at 53 years not out, how much longer does Ian intend to continue making bats?

“While I’m fit and able I’ll continue,” he insists.

Great news for the cricketing fraternity, except perhaps for the bowlers.

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