About Maddocks Sports - Cricket specialists

HISTORY
MADDOCKS SPORTS was founded in 1982 by Colin Maddocks. Colin, a qualified accountant, had worked in the UK for two years managing ‘County Sports’, a cricket bat factory.

The Maddocks Sports business started as a cricket repair operation in Hawthorn, offering repairs to cricket bats direct to clubs & schools in Melbourne.

The business quickly expanded into repairs to cricket gloves, pads, and then coir matting, and moved to larger premises in Richmond.

In the mid 80’s, the business moved into making ‘Straight Six’ cricket bats, and importing pads & gloves from India under this brand, which it retailed direct to clubs and cricketers around Victoria. The business also imported coir cricket mats, and for several years also re-covered leather cricket balls.

Around 1986 the first synthetic grass cricket pitches were laid, using grass manufactured in Melbourne.

By 1990, the business had moved to a large 10,000 square foot warehouse site in Blackburn, with indoor cricket training nets, bowling machines, and cricket bat-making. In the early 90’s, the company was selling all the major brands of cricket equipment through magazine-style colour catalogues all over Australia, with synthetic pitches growing in significance all the time.

In 2000, the business opened a second branch at Brooklyn in the western suburbs of Melbourne, once again with indoor cricket nets and a cricket showroom.

By 2005, Colin had received offers from buyers to purchase both the Blackburn and Brooklyn operations, and both were sold.

Maddocks Sports Pty Ltd has retained the synthetic grass operations, as these were not offered for sale.

TODAY
Colin now works from his home office, concentrating on sales and installations of synthetic grass cricket pitches and other synthetic grass surfaces. Sales of these products have grown 400% over the last 4 years.

Working with Tony Hawkins (our Installations Manager), we have developed new products and services over the last few years such as;

The company has completed many hundreds of these installations all over Victoria, and also Adelaide & Sydney areas. Our major customers are local councils & cricket clubs.