Cricket bats are made from willow (salix caerulea) which is one of the softest naturally occurring woods in the world. Every piece of wood in your home, from the roof timbers to your breakfast table, is likely to be harder, stronger and tougher than cricket bat willow.
The reason willow is most suitable for cricket bats is that it has a light, fibrous, reed-like nature which provides natural resilience or elasticity.
After seasoning the willow cleft to produce the optimum moisture content for blade durability, it is roughly shaped and the handle fitted. Final shaping and balancing of the bat is carried out by craftsmen using traditional hand tools.
To prepare the natural soft willow cleft for use in cricket it has to be "pressed" during manufacture. A pressure of up to 3 tons can be applied mechanically to the face and edges of the blade by running it beneath a flanged roller.
This procedure is regarded as the most important process in production. The skill and experience of the bat maker determines the degree of "pressing" which is to be applied to the blade.
Best performance os obtained from a lightly pressed bat. However, it is obvious that a "softer" blade will be more likely to sustain damage than a "harder" one. A "hard" pressed bat will have greater durability but its performance will be poor. So the expertise of the bat maker is required to strike a balance between performance and durability. Generally speaking more expensive bats have much better performance but do not last as long!
It is important to remember that even a "hard" pressed bat is made from very soft wood which will damage if struck repeatedly on its edges and toe. All bats will crack or split! Due to the nature of the game of cricket it is inevitable that some damage will occur!
Damage to a bat can usually be repaired and in most cases does not mean that the bat is faulty. |
