Bat Making

To make the finest quality cricket bats requires the careful selection of the world's best raw materials.

The timber we use is Salix Alba Caerulea (Cricket Bat Willow), grown in England. The willow is renewably harvested across the whole of England and sold through the wood yards of Essex and Suffolk. Only the highest grades of willow are hand selected by willow merchant Jeremy Ruggles, Director of J.S.Wright & Sons. (cricketbatwillow.com) The density of the wood and consistency of the grain through the playing area of the bat is of vital importance to the end balance and performance.

Saliix Alba Caerulea - Cricket Bat Willow, close - bark willow.

Willows grow to a maximum height of 21-27m(70-90ft), diameter 0.9-1.2m(3-4ft). The tree will be encouraged to branch out at about 3m (10') height and are generally grown in plantations at about 12 yard centres, 10 yard centres if they are on river banks. Trees grown for manufacture of cricket bats are felled when they reach a circumference of about 56".

See the following sections: