About Us

Fearnley Cricket traces its roots back to 1955 when a budding young cricketer, Duncan Fearnley began his trade as an apprentice with Senior Counties Batmakers in Yorkshire.

Duncan, born in the cricket hotbed of Pudsey, Yorkshire was one of the youngest players to play Bradford League at 15 for Farsley.

His father was a woodwork teacher and his grand-father a cabinet maker, working with the grandfather of ex England Captain Raymond Illingworth, so it seemed destined that the young Yorkshire Cricketer would also follow a woodworking career. In 1955 Fearnley had just played for England Schoolboys and hoped for a career in professional cricket, but during the winter months had to supplement his income.

Fearnley decided he wanted to make bats and within the boundaries of Yorkshire there were many small batmakers.

Fearnley was fortunate to get an apprenticeship with Senior Counties of Bridlington and made bats whenever he could around his cricket commitments.

The first bats Fearnley made were branded ‘Tudor Rose’, but soon they became known as ‘Fearnley of Farsley’. In the winter months Duncan would sell these bats onto his friends to supplement his income.

Fearnley’s main aim was to play professional cricket and though a phenomenal schoolboy cricketer could not make it into his Home County’s 1 st XI only managing to play for Yorkshire IIs.

He sought trials elsewhere to fulfil his ambition and in 1960 he was given the opportunity he’d craved at Worcestershire.

Fearnley moved to Worcestershire because in those days a player had to live in the county for 12 months first before he could play for his adopted County. He continued to make bats whilst dedicating his summers to the professional game.

After 8 years playing professionally at Worcestershire winning 2 Championships, he was released as a professional player and played semi-pro for Lincolnshire. This was the real start of the Duncan Fearnley brand as we know it today, as professional cricket could no longer support his young family.

Ambitious Fearnley sought to change the traditional market place with at the time radical and innovative ideas aggressively attacking the traditional brands.

Cricket bats have always been Fearnley’s roots and Fearnley first revolutionised the trade by introducing the first logo into the game. The Black Wicket Device soon became synonymous with cricket which at the time was groundbreaking.

Other brands followed suit; the days of ink stamped bats were almost over.

During the early years Fearnley got many of his ex-playing colleagues and opponents to use his products introducing new forms of sponsorship he built the brand around these friends. John Snow was the first to use the Duncan Fearnley bat in an International with the likes of Basil D’Oliveira and Dennis Amiss close behind.

During the 70’s the Black Wicket logo was starting to get more globally recognised and with more exposure Fearnley developed the brand overseas with the likes of Graeme Pollock, Bevan Congdon, Graeme Yallop, Clive Lloyd and Sunil Gavaskar starting to use the products.

The product ranges started to develop and from being just a bat maker Fearnley started to offer a comprehensive range of soft leather products and accessories.

Probably one of Fearnley’s shrewdest moves was to sign a young Ian Botham fresh from the MCC Young Cricketers. Shortly after the signing, Botham made the England Team and throughout his record breaking career became synonymous with the Fearnley brand with both of them growing in stature.

By the early 80’s Fearnley had become the dominant brand within the market throughout the world, totally innovative and having a large stable of top International players. At the time it seemed everyone was using or wearing the 3 wicket symbol. Leading players, such as Botham, Gooch, Lamb, Richards, Pollock, Akram, Shastri, Marshall, Border, Crowe and many more were putting their trust in the product.

The Magnum range became the product of the 80’s introducing colour throughout the products and the new large profiled bat was in such demand. Production grew from a few 100 bats in the early 70’s to 50,000 per year by the middle 80’s.

By the 90’s the Fearnley Player Stable decreased as the greats retired and the demands of huge contracts increased. The days of when a player wanted to use the best had gone and thus Fearnley adopted a tighter more focused stable of players still innovating in many products areas such as footwear, pioneering the first cricket shoe with running shoe technology. Players such as Hick, Gough, Kirsten, Twose, Vettori, Klusener & Akram continued to endorse the products.

During the 90’s the market place changed with lots of smaller brands developing and cricket bat production started to move overseas to India and Pakistan. Fearnley firmly resisted this trend and cut its production accordingly still concentrating on totally hand crafted bats at its factory in Worcester.

Today the brand still operates from its Worcester base with a smaller factory producing up to 5,000 totally hand crafted bats per year. The site also homes its own Factory Shop, warehouse and offices. Fearnley still remains one of the major UK manufacturers as other companies seek overseas production and is still one of the world’s most recognised names in cricket with Vikram Solanki & Darren Gough two of the main UK endorsements. New markets include Club Clothing & Ground Equipment.

Fearnley currently sponsor and supply Hampshire Cricket, Herefordshire Cricket Board, Oxfordshire Cricket Board, Shropshire Cricket Board, Loughborough University & Cambridge University with high end performance clothing and supply to amateur clubs ground equipment such as nets, artificial wickets & sight screens.

Although the market is constantly changing Fearnley is still dedicated to hand made perfection in cricket bats and perfection in all other cricket products constantly innovating, and will continue to strive at breaking the boundaries.

Fearnley Firsts:

• Logos on cricket bats
• Colour on products
• £100 & £200 Bats
• County Club shirt sponsorships
• Elasticated waist trousers
• Velcro Straps on Pads
• Footwear with running shoe technology
• Fleece Sweaters