- ReferenceSLAZENGER
- TitleSlazenger Catalogues
- Date1963 - 2011-03-16
- Level of descriptionfonds
- Extent1 folder
- Scope and ContentCricket Equipment Catalogues from Slazenger: 1963, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1979, 1980 (2 copies), 1999, 2000, 2001. The collection includes a photograph of the MCC Indoor School that was surfaced by Dunlop Uni-Turf, and a letter from Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum outlining the background to the collection.
- Subject
- Institution nameMarylebone Cricket Club
- Conditions governing accessOpen
- LanguageEnglish
- HistorySlazenger was founded in 1881 by two brothers, Ralph and Albert Slazenger. They began manufacturing golf equipment in the 1890s and in 1902, thanks to requests by leading tennis players, their tennis balls were first used by Wimbledon, having been made at the company's factory in Barnsley for over a century. Slazenger became a prominent brand for cricketers in the 1920s, particularly with Don Bradman's use of a bat made by Sykes, and manufacturered Gradidge bats - which was used by Len Hutton to score 364 for England vs. Australia in 1938 - as well as batting gloves, leg guards, and wicket-keeping guards. Slazenger acquired and merged with Ayres and Sykes to form Slazenger's Ltd during the Second World War. In 1959 Slazenger’s Ltd was acquired by Dunlop operating under the International Sports Company (ICS) umbrella. Nevertheless the 'Slazenger' brand remained prominent; they were chosen as the official supplier of footballs for the FIFA World Cup in 1966. Slazenger first started making yellow balls for the Wimbledon Championships in 1986 and signed England cricketers Matt Prior, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and the South African Jacques Kallis by 2010. Some of Slazenger's most famous sporting clients include Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Ken Rosewall, Fred Perry and Bobby Locke. The collection consists of Slazenger catalogues donated to MCC by the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. They advertise bats, gloves, leg guards, wicket-keeping guards, balls, leg-guards, helmets, clothing and luggage. The covers and reverse of the catalogues feature Alec Stewart, Mark Butcher, Mark Ramprakash, Ali Brown, Adam Hollioake, Ben Hollioake, John Crawley and Geoffrey Boycott.
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- Slazenger Catalogues (SLAZENGER)