Made by hand
Every bat is cut, shaped, sanded and finished by hand. It is slower, and it is the only way we know how to get it right.
Who makes this
A workshop,
A workshop,
not a factory.
KiTi-Bat is Nico Botha's workshop. Timber comes in one end as rough plank and leaves the other as something a young player is proud to carry.
Why it exists
It started with a simple problem.
Young cricketers do not get enough repetitions. A net session gives a player a handful of balls; a bowler gets tired; a coach can only watch one player at a time.
The KiTi-Bat was made to solve that — a rubber ball on an elastic string and a narrow bat, so a player gets hundreds of contacts on their own, in a driveway, without anybody needing to bowl at them.
The rest followed from the same idea. The KiTi Junior, because a five-year-old needs a shorter, wider face before they can handle a narrow one. The Catch-It Trainer, because fielding needs the same volume of repetition that batting does.
How we work
Three things we won't change.
Priced so juniors can start
A training bat that a family cannot afford trains nobody. That is why a KiTi Junior is R165 and not R1 650.
You talk to Nico
Phone the number on this site and you get the person who made the bat — the owner, not a call centre. Questions, advice, repairs, same person every time.
The workshop
Where it happens.
Block of poplar to finished trainer — five stages, all by hand.
The name
KiTi-Bat.
KiTi-Bat is a registered trademark — the hand-eye skills trainer that gives the whole range its name.
You will see it on the face of every bat that leaves the workshop, KiTi-Bat or Junior. It is a small mark, but it means someone put their name on the work.
Come and have a look at the range.
Two bat sizes and a rebound net, all with one purpose — getting a player to watch the ball.