GM 707 Brava — The Ready-to-Play English Willow Bat
Gunn & Moore is one of the oldest cricket equipment brands in the world — a Nottingham-based manufacturer with over 140 years of bat-making behind them. They’ve been supplying serious cricketers at every level from club to international for generations, and their construction standards reflect that heritage. The 707 Brava is GM’s Grade 2 English Willow offering — a full-profile, mid-low sweet spot bat built for attacking, power-oriented batting, with one feature that immediately separates it from most bats at this level: it comes factory knocked.
That matters more than it sounds. Most English Willow bats arrive un-prepared — you have to oil them, knock them in across multiple sessions, and wait before they’re ready to face a hard ball. The GM 707 Brava arrives with that process already done at the factory. Pick it up, apply a couple of coats of linseed oil as a final finishing step, and it’s ready to play. For club cricketers who want to get straight into the middle rather than spend a fortnight on preparation, this is a meaningful practical advantage.
Grade 2 English Willow — Genuine EW at Honest Value
The 707 Brava uses Grade 2 English Willow with 6 to 7 straight grains — proper, match-quality willow with the fibre structure that gives English Willow its characteristic response. Six to seven grains is a solid grain count for Grade 2 — the more grains visible across the face, the more seasons of performance the willow has typically had to develop, and the tighter and more consistent the grain structure tends to be.
Grade 2 sits one tier below Grade 1 in visual grain uniformity — there may be minor cosmetic variations in the appearance of the blade — but the playing quality is genuine English Willow throughout. For a club player who bats regularly and treats the bat well, Grade 2 is where the real value in English Willow lies. Performance at the right price.
Mid-Low Sweet Spot with Powerarc Bow — Front-Foot Power
The sweet spot sits in the mid-low position — lower on the blade, optimised for the contact zone of a committed front-foot drive to a full-pitched delivery. This is the attacking batsman’s sweet spot — the zone that rewards positive, driving cricket and connects with the ball where a front-foot power player meets it most often.
The Powerarc bow is GM’s signature blade profile feature — a curved profile through the face of the bat that concentrates mass at the optimal hitting zone while maintaining a clean, flat striking surface (F2 flat face). The bow pushes wood forward into the hitting arc without creating a pronounced ridge that interferes with the bat’s aerodynamics through the swing. The result is a blade that feels full and powerful through the hitting zone without feeling unwieldy in hand.
Full Back Profile — Maximum Mass
The back of the blade carries a full profile with minimal concaving — GM have kept as much wood in the bat as possible rather than hollowing the back to reduce weight. A full back means more mass behind every shot — thicker edges that carry mishits further, a deeper spine that concentrates weight through the centre of the blade, and a generally heavier, more powerful hitting feel. This is a bat designed to hit the ball hard.
The L555 blade length is GM’s standard adult blade length — correct proportions for a Short Handle bat, optimised for the reach and balance that adult batsmen expect.
Treble-Spring Singapore Cane Handle — Shock Absorption and Control
The handle uses a treble-spring construction from Singapore cane — three layers of cane with spring inserts between them that dramatically increase the handle’s shock absorption capability. When a hard delivery strikes the bat, the treble-spring construction flexes and absorbs the jarring impact before it reaches the hands, reducing the stinging sensation on firm-footed defensive shots and edged balls. This construction is a significant upgrade over standard single or double-spring handles — the hands stay fresher through long innings and the risk of hand injuries from impact is reduced.
The semi-oval cross-section of the handle provides a partial orientation reference — more feedback than a round handle on blade face angle, without the fully fixed reference of an oval. Players who want some guidance on face orientation without committing to a fully fixed grip position find the semi-oval the most comfortable compromise.
The ergonomic hex grip wrapped over the handle provides a secure, non-slip surface through all phases of the innings — including the sweaty conditions of a long batting session in Indian heat.
Factory Knocked — Ready Faster
GM have factory-knocked the 707 Brava — the bat has already gone through a mechanical knocking-in process at the factory before it’s packaged. This compresses the willow fibres and prepares the surface for match use without requiring you to do the full manual knocking-in process from scratch. You should still apply two to three coats of raw linseed oil to the face, edges, back, and toe before use — the oil conditions the surface and protects the willow — but the laborious process of building up impact resistance through hours of mallet work is already done.
Weight — 1160 to 1200 Grams
The bat typically weighs between 1160 and 1200 grams — a standard playing weight range for a full-profile English Willow bat. Individual bats vary within this range. Contact us if specific weight is critical for you.
Brand: GM (Gunn & Moore)
Manufacturer: Gunn & Moore Ltd.
Manufacturing: Colwick, Nottinghamshire, England
Country of Origin: England (UK)
Indian Market: gmcricket.in (official India website)
Customer Care: Via gmcricket.in or authorised Indian retailer
Marketed/Sold by: Anytime Sports, Thane, Maharashtra (Authorised Retailer)
