By Rafe Calder
The rulebook is short on the subject of how a bat plays and long on how big it may be. That is the useful thing to know before buying, borrowing or admiring one. The laws set a ceiling. They do not set a standard of quality.
What the law fixes
The Marylebone Cricket Club publishes the Laws of Cricket, and Law 5 covers the bat. Overall length is no more than 38 in (96.52 cm), measured with the lower handle inserted. The blade may be no wider than 4.25 in (10.8 cm), no deeper than 2.64 in (6.7 cm), and its edges no thicker than 1.56 in (4.0 cm). The blade must also pass through a bat gauge. The handle is made mainly of cane or wood, and except for size 6 and smaller bats it may be no more than 52 per cent of the bat’s overall length. The blade must be made solely of wood. Wikipedia adds that since 1979 the blade has had to be made entirely of wood.
Protection is allowed, but only to a point. Non-rigid material may cover the face, sides and shoulders only to guard against or repair surface damage, with the covering capped at 0.04 in (0.1 cm). Toe protection is capped at 0.12 in (0.3 cm). Any surface that causes unacceptable damage to the ball is not allowed.
What it is made of
Traditional bats use Salix alba var. caerulea, called cricket bat willow, according to Wikipedia. The wood is tough, shock-resistant and light, and it is treated with raw linseed oil. Wikipedia’s page on the tree calls it very fast-growing with a single straight stem and says it is grown in Britain as a specialist timber crop, mainly for cricket bats. That page gives no growth rates, and neither do we.
The blade is a wooden block, flat on the striking face, with a ridge on the back that concentrates wood in the middle. A long cylindrical cane handle is spliced into the blade and usually covered with a rubber grip. The tapered splice, credited to Charles Richardson in the 1880s, spreads load more gradually than the earlier splices, which tended to break at the join.
Dates in order
- 1624: the first mention of a bat in use, according to Wikipedia.
- 1729: the date of the oldest known surviving bat, displayed at The Oval, according to Wikipedia.
- 1880s: the tapered splice, credited to Charles Richardson, according to Wikipedia.
- 1932: India’s first Test, played at Lord’s, according to Wikipedia’s page on cricket in India.
- 1934 to 1935: the first Ranji Trophy season, according to the same page.
- 1979: the blade must be made entirely of wood, according to Wikipedia.
- 2008: the first Indian Premier League season runs from April to June, according to Wikipedia.
Grains, and what they are said to mean
Wikipedia says bats with eight or fewer grains are harder and last longer, and bats with sixteen or more are softer and play sooner. Eight to twelve grains is commonly preferred. The page does not say who prefers it or how that was tested, so treat the range as a rule of thumb.
Knocking in
A new bat needs knocking in, usually with an old ball or a mallet, to compact the fibres and reduce the risk of snapping. Raw linseed oil fills gaps between fibres, protects the wood and increases friction between ball and bat, according to Wikipedia. The page gives no counts or timings, so we offer none.
English and Kashmir willow
This is a disputed point, so here are both sides. On species the sources agree. A newspaper article drawing on Cosmos magazine says English and Kashmir willow are genetically the same species, white willow, Salix alba, grown in different regions. Scroll.in, reporting on a project at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, says the variety best suited to bats is Salix alba var. caerulea, and that some Kashmir makers use willow without the qualities a bat needs because the varieties are hard to tell apart. On play the sources differ. Wikipedia says no evidence shows Kashmir willow plays differently. A Kookaburra bat maker quoted in the Cosmos-based article says willow from different regions can be told apart, and that it is harder to make Kashmir willow bats at the same quality level.
Side by side
Species: the same, in Wikipedia, the Cosmos-based article and Scroll.in. Playing quality: no difference, in Wikipedia; a difference, in a bat maker’s account. Our reading: being the same species does not settle whether the wood plays the same, because growing region and variety both vary. That is our inference, and no source says it in these words.
What kind of sources these are
The Marylebone Cricket Club’s own Laws of Cricket page, which is the governing body’s text and the strongest source here. Wikipedia for materials, construction and history. For the Kashmir willow question, a newspaper article drawing on Cosmos magazine that quotes a bat maker, and Scroll.in’s report on the Kashmir university project. No bat-maker’s sales page was used.
Questions a reader would ask
Can a bat be made from something other than willow? Wikipedia says researchers at Cambridge found laminated bamboo bats could be stronger than willow, but that the MCC has said such bats would be illegal under current laws.
Does a bat need oiling? Wikipedia says raw linseed oil is used to treat the wood and fill gaps between fibres.
Does Australia grow the tree? Wikipedia says cricket bat willow is grown in Victoria and New South Wales.
What we left out
Prices, brand names, advice on repairing a cracked blade, and the names of players. The sources do not give the number of years a tree takes to reach cutting size, so we left it out.
Quick answers
How big can a cricket bat be? According to the MCC’s Law 5, no more than 38 in long and 4.25 in wide, with a blade depth of no more than 2.64 in and edges of no more than 1.56 in.
What wood is a cricket bat made from? Wikipedia says traditional bats use Salix alba var. caerulea, called cricket bat willow, treated with raw linseed oil.
Is Kashmir willow different from English willow? The sources agree it is the same species, white willow. They differ on play. Wikipedia says no evidence shows a difference, while a Kookaburra bat maker quoted in a Cosmos-based article says the wood can be told apart and that Kashmir bats are harder to make at the same quality.
Related on this site: fort-kochi-mattancherry-kerala-spice-port-heritage, mumbai-dabbawalas-tiffin-system-codes-six-sigma, cardamom-kerala-idukki-harvest-green-black
Roam first. Shop later.