More about Julian Millichamp ...
A WIND OF CHANGE AMONGST THE SHEPHERDS FLAT WILLOWS
In a quiet East Sussex village over a quarter of a century ago a young apprentice was embarking on a legacy of heritage, tradition and excellence in cricket. Julian Millichamp has since carved out his reputation as the world’s premier bat maker, servicing a generation of sporting heroes.
As a founding partner of the eminently successful Millichamp & Hall brand, international test players across the globe sought out Julian’s unique skill in tailor making cricket bats. By the late 1980’s he was making bats for 27 of the top 40 ranked batsmen in the world. Appreciating the seasonal nature of cricket, Julian spent a hectic nine years dividing his time between the Australian and English summers, training apprentices and passing on the history along the way.
By 1994 Julian had decided to reside permanently in Australia. With Jonathon Hall looking after the English business, Julian joined forces with a major Australian brand. The combination of a large company and Julian’s unsurpassed ability saw the brand rise to prominence and become the product of choice for many international players.
In 2004 Julian realised the time was right for a fresh challenge. He and his family packed up the camper trailer and went travelling around Australia in search of new horizons. During this trip he stumbled upon the sleepy hamlet of Shepherds Flat, Victoria, and found what he had been looking for – the roots of Australian cricket bat making.
The rich cricket history of Shepherds Flat has been carefully preserved by five generations of the Tinetti family and lovingly nurtured back to life by Ian and Trish Tinetti. The merging of these interconnected histories was almost inevitable. Julian and his family relocated from Western Australia to set up his new factory alongside the Tinetti tradition, creating the only venue in the world where visitors can witness the bat making process from planting a willow tree through to use in the test arena.
Julian has returned to the fundamentals of handcrafting traditional cricket bats. His new brand, Screaming Cat, has evolved from his early days when, unlike today, all bats were individually graded on playability and performance. This unique art of grading through sound and feel, called “Tapping Up”, is carried out with the simulation of a ball striking a bat by using a specially crafted mallet. Julian has fond memories of his mentor whom, upon tapping up the very best pieces of willow, would excitedly hail “It’s a screaming cat boy, a screaming cat!”
Julian has launched Screaming Cat through selected cricket specialists across Australia, representing 25 years of the very best in handcrafting traditional cricket bats.
