Choosing a right cricket bat is a very important factor which can at times make or break the performance of a player. Its very important that you choose your bats carefully. All the points mentioned below are from best of my knowledge and may require your opinion as well , just in case i am missing out something!!!!
Choosing a Right Grade of Willow
Well first thing that comes in most people's mind while choosing a bat is the willow grade, so does its really gonna make any difference on the performance of the bats, in my opinion grade 1 to grade 4 all perform equally well, its just about how we select the bat & prepare it, following are the points.1. Number of grains - less then 7 , then that means willow is younger and have a longer life and can last for longer period of time, but punch would be less..so u need to work out more on knockingin both on nets (gradual knokcing ) and also with ur mallet, it will take time for this willow to play with that ultimate ping.
2. Number of grains - 8 to 11 approx - willow is of moderate/middle age and has better ping then the above willow mentioned right from the start but yes time is required to prepare the bat , though not as much required for younger willow. life of bat is lower then above case.
3. Number of grains - 13 and above, willow is highly matured and has a superb ping, pros usually select this type of bats as this does not require preparation at all but at the same time life is very less, some times a few matches only, but those are pros and can afford it on sponsors expense ;-)...but even with this i would recommend little preparation aswell.
Most of the English willow used to make bats comes from JS Wrights Sons farm based in UK, they do grading themselves before dispatching the willow to big manufacturers in INDIA. there is a process of naturally air drying and kiln drying ( using heating to make willow dry quicker ) , all grade 1 bats are naturally air dried!!!! dont know if grade 2 or lower bats are also naturally air dried.
Pickup/Balance & Weight are quite person attributes which are affected by a few factors like style of playing, batting position, bounce on the pitch, Pickup /balance & Weight are categorized as follows.
Pickup - Light or moderate or heavy
Weight - Light, Medium, Heavy
Light Weight is 2lb 8oz to 2lb 10oz
Medium Weight is 2lb 11oz to 2lb 12oz
Heavy Weight is 2lb 13oz and beyond
Light Weight bats are more specific for players who have a higher bat speed. Specially for players who use to open the innings and need to face fast bowlers with a new ball. At that time one needs higher bat speed to middle the balls easily.
Heavy Bats are for those players who are more balanced and can play strokes effortlessly by easily middling the balls coming on to bats, heavier bats gives them the power needed to clear the boundary rope easily!!!! also aggressive scoring in slog overs can also be done with heavier bats when you need more power generation as more weight generates more power for an equal bat speed.
Medium Weight bats can be used by middle order batsmen, as they don't have any definite strategy to score, they only need to materialize the innings. Beside that Most of the batsmen like to have a medium weight bat as it moderates the performance in all facet of game whether you need fast scoring, more balanced and focused scoring or even an aggressive scoring at any point of time.
BALANCE/PICKUP ( Positioning of Sweet Spot )
Balance of a Cricket Bat is another important thing to look for. Bats which are of exactly equal weight may vary in pickup and balance to quite an extent and may feel light, medium or heavy then their actual weights, practically a person cannot judge the weight of the bat by just having a feel in his hands.
Balance or pickup is more to do with the positioning of the sweet spot, sweet spot is not a particular point as might reflected by its name but a range of area on the bat's blade, actually its the part of the blade which has the maximum meat across the blade length, in a normal men's size bat it could be approx 20 cm across the blade length.
In case of a Lower sweet then bat has a lower bat speed since bat feels heavy then its actual weight to the batsman. This is because the weight is more concentrated towards the lower part of blade.
In case the bat has a higher sweet spot then it feels lighter then the bat feels lighter then the actual weight of the bat since more weight is on the higher side of the bat and batsman can easily balance it.
In case of a normally placed sweet spot the bat feel same as its actual weight , generally players prefer a normally placed sweet spot on bat's blade.
Experiment - In case you feel a bat to be heavier then the best remedy to use it would be to put on an extra gripper on the handle, though this would add to the total weight of the bat but at the same time it will make the bat more well balanced by shifting the weight towards the handle which will make the bat feel even lighter.
We would really appreciate if you would also post your opinions here.
thanks
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