Welcome to the Laver & Wood Cricket Bat Lore Newsletter

MODERN BATS AND BIG ODI SCORES

Welcome to the Laver & Wood Cricket Bats newsletter # 22

Brought to you direct from the Laver & Wood bat making workshop in Waipawa, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.


In the last few years ODI scores have increased substantially, with the number of boundaries, and especially sixes, increasing. Players are regularly hitting the ball further, and are using bats with bigger profiles, bats that appear to be bigger and heavier than bats used even in the recent past.

This is actually something of an illusion. Bats may look heavier, because of their prominent, thick edges, and high profile, but a combination of careful manufacture, willow selection and willow drying means that this is often not the case. Bats that look large may actually be relatively light. International players bats in particular are much lighter than those regularly found on sports stores bat racks.

Undeniably these lighter, thicker bats hit the ball further. There is, however, a trade off, with the durability of the bat being sacrificed for hitting power. The manufacturing process for these lighter, thicker bats starts with careful selection of willow. Some willow is naturally lighter than other willow, and the lightest willow is used for professionals’ bats. The willow can be further lightened by drying the willow cleft again before manufacture. Most willow is air and kiln dried by the willow merchant, but manufacturers seeking a light bat with extra profile may dry it again before manufacture. This may take the moisture content of the willow down a percentage or two, but this can significantly reduce the weight of the bat, maybe by one or two ounces.

At the pressing stage, the batmaker may chose to press the bat lightly, meaning the blade is going to have an extra few millimetres, but without the extra protection a heavy press gives a bat. The light press means the willow retains more of its ‘spring’ and the extra spring means the ball really flies off the bat. The compromises is that the light pressing means a bat will break up quicker than normal, as well as lose its power more rapidly than a conventionally pressed bat.

The shaping process also adds to the perception of a heavy bat, with the prominent thick edges and high middle enabled by reducing weight at the top and toe of the bat. With careful use of hand tools the areas between the edges and the middle of the bat can be scalloped out. These factors combine to put more willow in the areas the batsman is likely to hit the ball, and less in the areas that the ball does not hit often. The extra willow in the right areas means considerably more power.

The final factor is the stiffer handles. The introduction of carbon fibre in the handles has strengthened and stiffened the handles, with perhaps as much as 25% extra power gained from the carbon handles. These handles are sanctioned by the ICC, and as likely as not a combination cane/rubber/carbon handle will become the most used handle, as supplies of quality cane fall at alarming rates through over harvest.

While professionals are hitting the ball further far more regularly, the amateur would be wise to consider not purchasing replicas of the professionals’ bats. The trade off for the extra power is a dramatically reduced expected lifetime for bats, meaning frequent breakages and replacements. Amateurs should also exercise caution when purchasing carbon handle bats. Handles that comprise entirely of carbon have the potential to jar unpleasantly, and also may affect the balance of the bat. The Laver & Wood CARBOCANE 2007 version handle is a blend of the traditional cane and a carbon fibre tube that runs through the core of the handle to the level of the shoulders and hence has lmited vibration. Please view the website for more information.

James Laver
Laver & Wood
james@laverwood.com

If you have a favourite bat that is broken or just worn out send it to Laver & Wood and have a replica made. As we hand make bats we can replicate any bat shape, size or weight so you can replace your old favourite exactly, rather than trying to find a similar one off the shelf.

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Copyright 2007. Laver & Wood Ltd. This information may be published without
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