North Essex pair at PiriPiri are adding some fire to cricket (From Gazette)

North Essex pair at PiriPiri are adding some fire to cricket

10:42am Friday 26th February 2010

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There are few obvious links between cricket and a chilli.

But this hasn’t stopped them being put together – and the result is making the cricketing world sit up and take notice.

The brainchild of Colchester and East Essex cricketer Ben Stephens, PiriPiri Cricket was ridiculed for its bright colours and reference to a well-known food chain which serves up some delicious spicy chicken.

Yet PiriPiri has overcome cricket’s traditional stigma of straight bats and line and length.

Stephens, 23, and co-owner Steve Parnell, 47, both from Halstead, just need to point at their first accolade to prove they have struck upon, and succeeded with one of the most unlikely of ideas.

PiriPiri’s Naga Jolokia Pro bat has been named best buy in the Newer Names section of the Wisden Cricketer’s Good Gear Guide 2010.

But how did a flaming hot chilli come to adorn an award winning cricket bat?

“It was the night before a cup final for Colchester and East Essex at the end of 2008,” said Stephens, who has also played cricket for Coggeshall and Essex’s youth sides.

“We were in a restaurant and none of us were drinking because of the big game the next day, so we were having to make do with some hot and spicy chicken instead.

“During the final the next day, one of our bastmen, Marlon Dias, was receiving some verbals from an opposition bowler, and after hitting him for a few runs he ran past and said ‘PiriPiri’ at the bowler, as if to say ‘that was smoking hot’.

“That gave me the idea, and I was looking for some new equipment at the time so I decided to create my own logo and it has all taken off since then.”

Parnell’s sporting background is in football, having played for Braintree Town and Sudbury Town and he was player-manager at Halstead Town and Tiptree United, where he played in the FA Vase final in 2002 at Villa Park.

His sales expertise was added to Stephens’ knowledge of cricket.

“It was Ben’s idea and we started up properly last April,” said Parnell.

“We spent most of last year developing the brand and seeing what kind of reaction PiriPiri received.

“We exhibited at the Cricket Trade Show and had a great reception from both customers and the big trade names so we decided that perhaps PiriPiri was good enough to take forwards.

“Some rivals ridiculed us with a different colour chilli on the different bats, but we have had no knock backs.

“It is as though PiriPiri has been around for years – it just seems to fit in cricket and everyone asks where we got the idea from.

“The other bat manufacturers are probably turning in their graves.”

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