"There is no greater compliment, in terms of solidity and reliability, than James Coyne naming Chris Woakes as this bat's cricketer equivalent"
RRP: £320, Edges: 35mm, Weight: 2lb 9oz
The Heritage was added to New Balance's repertoire as a traditional, old-fashioned member of the range and the 600 is an updated version for this season.
New Balance will therefore be delighted that our testers used words like "solid," "sturdy," "trusty" and "consistent" to describe its performance.
There is no greater compliment, in terms of solidity and reliability, than James Coyne naming Chris Woakes as this bat's cricketer equivalent.
In terms of the bat's characteristics, our testers noticed that the 'middle' was found a bit lower. Some found it performed better when hitting close to the toe but others believed the lower middle ensured that the high-performance area was "well-distributed" and "longer."
One student tester noted that the "big middle" was "easy to find," while another described the 'middle' as "receptive."
The negatives were few and far between for the testers, former England Test opener, Mark Stoneman said: "This is a solid bat with a nice profile and the weight is well distributed but the handle is a little thick for me."
Another tester said: "The bat feels like the middle is a bit low and it's quite a light pick-up." When pressed for an evaluation, he deduced: "Good."
Initial impression: 7.9
Build quality: 8.3
Pick-up/feel: 7.9
Performance: 8.4
OVERALL SCORE: 8.1
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