The Cricket Bat

A cricket bat is very much like a paddle, though uptill the 18th century it used to look like the present day hockey stick. Like the paddle, a cricket bat has a paddled handle. But the cricket bat is sturdier than the handle of the paddle.

The handle of the bat finishes at the shoulder. The shoulder exceeds till the blade which is a flat wooden block on one side and V-shape ridge on the other side to boost the strength of the bat. The bottom of the blade is known as the toe of the bat.

Rules
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) states underlying laws for a cricket bat in the rule book:-

1. Width and length
The bat overall shall not be more than 38 inches/96.5cm in length. The blade of the bat shall be made solely of wood and shall not exceed 4 1/4 inches/10.8cm at the widest part.

2. Covering the blade
The blade may be covered with material for protection, strengthening or repair. Such material shall not exceed 1/16 inches/1.56mm in thickness, and shall not be likely to cause unacceptable damage to the ball.

3. Hand or glove to count as part of bat
In these Laws, (a) reference to the bat shall imply that the bat is held by the batsman. (b) contact between the ball and either (i) the striker`s bat itself or (ii) the striker`s hand holding the bat or (iii) any part of a glove worn on the striker`s hand holding the bat shall be regarded as the ball striking or touching the bat, or being struck by the bat.

The make-up
The bat is made from a willow wood. The willow wood is hard enough to be shock resistant. And is very much a matierial for a cricket bat as through the cricket bat the player has to hit the the ball hard, without denting the surface of the bat. The willow also keeps in check the wieght of the bat, which should be light and the bat should be easy to handle.

A cricket bat is not supposed to be used immediately after its production. It requires knocking which compresses the exposed wood.

The knocking-in
The knocking-in process is very unique and it starts from the edges of the blade as the cracks start appearing on the edges of the bat.

The knocking in process is initiated by applying a thin layer of linseed oil on the blade of the bat. The bat is knocked by a worn down soft leather cricket ball or a tack hammer. The face of the blade is then repeatedly hit for several hours.

After a few hours of knocking-in, another thin layer of linseed oil is applied. The bat is now ready, but only for light practice. For competitive matches some more hours of knocking-in is done. During this stage though, care is taken to protect the spring of the bat from jarring.

This process is the traditional way of making the bat steady for use. However, manufacturers of the bat now a days use machines to compress the bat.

The imperfections
After the bat is made, there could be many imperfections in the bat. These imperfections are as follows:-

Small knot or "Pin knot" is the most common imperfection found in the bat after it is made. These knots are generally up to 10 mm in diameter and at times visible on the face of the bat.

"Speck" is another imperfection which is due to the growing conditions of the tree. In this case, the tree grows in earth containing a lot of gravel or stones. As a result of which there is an uptake of tiny molecules with water that gets deposited. Speck is purely cosmetic and is also a sign of a strong bat.

The third imperfection is the "Butterfly Stain", it is called so as it resembles the body and wings of a butterfly. This imperfection is mainly due to the tree being a hybrid of English Cricket Bat Willow. This makes the bat very strong.

"False Growth" is a common imperfection in the bat. This is caused when the tree stops growing for some reason atleast for a season. The causes can range from drought, fire or weed killer. Nine times out of ten there is no weakness in the bat and they will certianly not break along the False Growth.

Another imperfection is the "dead knot". The tree has been trimmed up very late and the resulting branch has been left to grow for many years. Before this can be used to make a bat the knot is drilled out and filled. As long as it is not on the face of the bat it will have very little detrimental effect on the playability.

The willows
English Willow
English Willow has a fibrous wood which provides excellent rebound performance when the ball strikes the middle of the bat, English willow bats are used by top and middle order batsmen.

Kashmir Willow
Kashmir Willow is a harder and although it is quite similar to English Willow, it is a little more brittle and therefore less responsive when the ball strikes the middle of the bat. Kashmir Willow bats do however offer excellent value for money and are ideal for lower order batsmen, beginners or club bags.

The controversy
The recent controversy concerning the cricket bat originated in October 2005 when Ricky Ponting was stopped from using the Kookaburra bat.

Reportedly, the Kookaburra bat had a graphite plate on it which enhanced stroke play. This clearly violated rule number 6.1 of MCC which states that the “bat shall be made solely of wood.”
The ‘Kahuna’ bat was thus not brought into the play. Similarly, English player Owais Shah was told not to use the same bat as it also had the graphite plate on it.