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Why Bats Break and What to do to Protect Them

 Laver & Wood June 2006
Why Bats Break and What to do to Protect Them
Written By S.Lusk and J.Laver

Just about every cricketer has had a favourite bat break, and gone through the pain of having to find a replacement. Bats break because they are inherently fragile, and made from natural materials. Cricket Bat willow is a natural product that decays over time and with use, meaning bats do not last forever, and as they get older they are far more likely to break.

Bats break for many reasons, with some of the most common being dry willow, letting the bat get wet and or playing poor shots. They also break in unfortunate circumstances, such as jamming down on a yorker, or when the willow has suffered storm damage. A breakage in a storm damaged bat can be spectacular, and is almost certainly irreparable.

Dry willow can be dealt with by oiling the bat, although be careful with how much you oil your bat as over oiling can damage the bat. Excessive oil may cause the fibres in the face of the bat to separate and delaminate, making the bat vulnerable to splitting. For Laver & Wood’s recommendation on how to oil your bat go to http://www.laverwood.co.nz/html/batcare/knockingin.htm 

The two biggest bat killers are playing in wet conditions and playing with hard balls. Wet conditions wreck bats, especially if they toe gets damp. Water will be transferred up through the toe, and when it dries out the bat often splits. If you are batting on a wet pitch try to keep the bat on your foot rather than tapping the ground, or better still use an old bat. Be especially wary of matting pitches, these will often retain water for days, and tapping a bat down will end up giving your bat a wet toe.

Hard balls are the bane of a batmakers existence. Willow simply cannot take a repeated pounding from hard balls, especially those used in bowling machines. They cause bats to fracture and break, and there is very little that can be done to a bat that has been damaged by a hard ball. For this reason we strongly recommend you use a practice bat rather than your match bat if you are doing a lot of net practice, and suggest you never use a good bat in front of a bowling machine.

Doing warrantee work for many brands means over the years we have seen a huge number of damaged bats, and talked to their owners. One common theme is most break in practice, which makes sense as most players will hit more balls in practice than in the middle. Laver & Wood offer a practice bat, which is a bat that is exactly the same as your match bat, but made from cheaper willow. Unlike your match bat it is pressed exceptionally hard, knocked in and protected with fiberglass tape on the edges and a bat facing. The hard pressing means you will not hit the ball all that far, but the bat will last a lot longer and value for shots is not important in the nets.



Cricket regulations make it near impossible to significantly strengthen bats with synthetic materials, meaning maintaining your bat is the best option for extending its life. Start by knocking it in properly (suggestions for knocking bats in are at www.laverwood.co.nz/html/batcare/knockingin.htm ), oiling it and adding a protective facing. Edge tape will also extend the life of the bat. At the end of each season one should remove the facing, repair any small cracks and then re-apply a new one.

If you have any questions about how cricket bats break please email me.


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James Laver
Senior Bat Maker - Laver & Wood
james@laverwood.co.nz
www.laverwood.co.nz
Laver & Wood
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