Martin Berrill Sports Wooden Slip Catch Cradle

Cricket Slip Catch Cradle. The perfect fielding aid, this sturdy slip catch cradle has a strong frame with fitted hardwood laths.

• Available within approximately 7 days of receipt of order.
• Varnished finish.

There was a time when no self-respecting school or club would be without one of these – and sometimes 2 or 3. Nowadays they seem to be quite rare and to have faded into the background to be replaced by a variety of nets and rebound catching frames. The odd one turns up hiding in the long grass.

We’ve had a number of enquiries recently from parents with fond memories of the cradle they used at school many years ago, anxious that their offspring have a taste of the same experience.

The good news is that the original hand-made cradle is still available – a craftsman built treasure put together from a small workshop hidden away deep amongst the strawberry fields of Herefordshire.

Our manufacturer does the whole thing from scratch – cutting, forming and welding mild steel to make the heavy frame and working local ash into the long laths which are stretched and bent to fit the frame. As he works largely from memory in his head and his hands virtually no formal measuring is done or templates used, so each one is unique. The finished object is a fine thing to see, a far cry from imported imitations very often made from fibre – glass.

He says that he first started at age 9 helping out his father by bolting laths to the frame. He wasn’t allowed near the cutting and welding operations until he was 16 and made his first cradle from scratch. That was 40 years ago so it comes fairly easily to him now.

Nowadays he usually makes two or three cradles at a time so he can usually have one in stock and ready to go on demand. The biggest problem he has is finding ash of the right quality – ‘There is ash about’ he says, ‘but not usually good enough.’ At one time too he could guarantee to make a cradle in less than a day but in recent times regulations governing the black paint he uses to ‘cure’ the metal frame have made that impossible. ‘The old paints with solvents in would dry in an hour or two. Since the solvents were banned it takes at least 24 hours to go off so I need a couple of days now.’

IMPORTANT CARRIAGE NOTE:

Please contact us prior to placing your order as these items are large and heavy which means many couriers will not accept. Therefore specialist shipping may be necessary and can be quoted for / confirmed. Carriage charges shown at £100.00 is merely an estimate.