I went to get my favourite cricket bats restored with Barney Bats in Haywards Heath, and I was amazed by the results

It could be a nice old jumper or t-shirt you wear, it could be that one friend you can tell anything to, or it could be a film you put on that you know you are going to enjoy (Back to the Future or Jurassic Park, obviously).

For cricketers, it’s probably that one bat you absolutely love. The one you have hit a load of runs with, that just feels perfect. But like when that t-shirt gets too small, or you fall out with that friend, when your cricket bat splits or breaks in any way, you can feel a bit lost.

Whenever that happened to me, it always took a while for me to find the right replacement and when I did, I normally had to break the bank to do so.

And there are probably thousands of cricketers across the country who have to do the same each season.

But as I have discovered recently, it doesn’t have to be that way. My son Noah wanted to buy a new bat as he looks to get back into playing cricket and we visited Wisdom Sports in Haywards Heath.

As Noah was perusing the willow, I got chatting to Barney Morris who runs the cricket department at the shop and restores cricket bats..

What does that mean? If a bat gets broken or damaged in any way, he makes it look almost brand new again. And with the cost of bats as high as it’s ever been, Barney wanted to help people out.

“It goes back to when my children started in the county,” he said. “I couldn't afford decent bats for them. So I found a really nice bat - it was the chairman’s bat - it was beautiful.

“It had a million grains and it was wonderful and he broke the toe off it. I thought I could scale that down for my son. Suddenly you had this beautiful bat that was the right size. That got me into bats, and then lots of dads asked me, ‘can you do this bat for my son’, then people started buying bats online and sent them to me.

“It was just a hobby. I was working up in London and I got home and did it in the garage and it was great fun.”

And then he got talking to Nick Wisdom. “I heard Nick Wisdom, who was absolute legend around here and owned Wisdom Sports, was retiring. He sold the business but he was still doing the bats for three years after, but he was moving away.

“I got talking with him and we got together and he really pushed me to come and start doing this and I jumped at the chance. It was 10 minutes from home, I have four young children. I just love recycling bats getting them back to what they were.”

As Barney said, bats are so expensive now and he feels recycling them helps people keeps costs downs for cricketers. “You can fix it from 20 to 40 quid or you can buy a new one,” he said. “The entry grade now is around £200 quid and they go up, so more and more people are coming to me wanting bats fixed the whole time

“Before there were hundreds of people who got little knocks to bat and would throw them away got new ones, now they're fixing them and they are right as rain.”

Barney can fix up to 50 in a week and he said Monday mornings can be like ‘accident and emergency’ from the games at the weekend. And that is even in the winter with schools playing throughout it and with more indoor cricket being played.

But don’t expect miracles, bats won’t last forever whatever you do. “Who knows,” said Barney. “You can take it out the next day and it will break, that’s the nature of cricket bats.

“Bats are generally not looked after enough, they are not oiled enough and they become brittle.

“But if you look after it they can last 10 to 12 years.”

I had two bats sitting in the garage at home looking worse for wear - a Woodworm and an SS - and I thought I would see what he could do.

These bats had not been used for eight years - I stopped playing in 2016 to pursue umpiring - so I was intrigued how they would come out.

I had seen videos of what Barney does on Instagram (@barneybats) and know he can work miracles, but I thought my bats were irredeemable.

How wrong I was! With my son looking to get into to playing, who knows, with these restored beauties, I could be back in the middle trying to bludgeon bowlers all over the park (and getting out for a disappointing 20-odd).

If you have a bat you would like restored or fixed, you can take them into the Wisdom Sports, 13 South road, Haywards Heath, RH16 4LE OR contact Barney through Instagram @barneybats

You can also scan the QR Code in the picture above to contact Barney on Whatsapp