What's in a cricket bat? Beyond Grace to Gaylestorm

BANGALORE, INDIA: IPL, in its fifth edition, still inspires awe. For the innovative shots, super sixes and blistering bat-speeds. Occasionally, an outstanding bowling spell or two gets a passing mention.

Perhaps, the Indian Premier League Twenty20 league bears testimony to the fact that the game is turning increasingly batsman-friendly.

Now, with the willow-wielders walloping all that is fired at their way, the focus naturally turns towards the weapon of bowler destruction they wrap their fingers around: The modern cricket bat.

Before acquiring its current form, technically, it has undergone several metamorphoses spread over centuries of improvisations.

Here's how:

An account traces the history of the cricket bat way back to 1624. And the oldest cricket bat still in existence is about a century younger than that — from 1729. A cursory glance at this piece of blade would make you believe that one is fooling you with an oddly-crafted hockey stick. Trust the Oval officials not to do so, as they have exhibited it in the Sandham Room at their Member's Pavilion.

Cricket with something like a hockey stick? Well, those were times when the cricket ball was bowled (thrown?) underarm. A wee bit later, 1750 to be precise, saw it evolve into the Curved Bat. Its blade has more weight at the base.

It was to be followed by the Little Joey in 1792, dating before the leg before wicket (LBW) era, and the Fuller Pilch's bat in the 1830s. An Englishman, Pilch was considered the best until the arrival of W.G. Grace to the scene in the 80s of the century. His blade had shoulders narrower than its toes, with the sweet spot centred towards the middle and bottom.

The 'Gracious' one

The model Grace used at the dawn of the 20th century can be considered a prelude to the modern version of the cricket bat, which Jack Hobbs brandished towards the fag end of his Test career in 1930. Thirty years down the line, shoulderless bats, double-sided bats and sooner, the Scoop were all introduced, and revolutionized the sport. The 1974 make of Gray-Nicolls — the GN100 Scoop — did away with the wood from the middle of the rear. Too much for all talk about the meat!

Over the coming years, albeit for briefly, the ComBat aluminium metal bat and the Uzi with a truncated blade and elongated handle, the first one officially declared best suited for the T20 format, were all launched. It is actually the Uzi that led to the Mongoose. Anyway, that is later.

In 21st Century

In 2005, Australian manufacturer Kookaburra released a Carbon fiber-reinforced bat, with polymer support down the spine of the bat, that kicked up a controversy, after Ricky Ponting was accused by the British media for scoring tons of runs with it. There was also the 'double-edged' sword, in 2008, by Gray-Nicolls, which had a second face on the base of the back of the bat.

Then came in 2009 the Mongoose, made famous by Matthew Hayden of the Chennai Super Kings, who rattled off 93 off 43 balls in an IPL encounter against the Delhi Daredevils with the MMi3. His team-mate, Suresh Raina, later would go on record after arguably underutilizing that: "It is good for big hitting, but surely not for defending. That is the reason I reverted back to the traditional bat."

According to the official Mongoose site: www.mongoosecricket.com, "The Mongoose has a sweet spot 120 per cent bigger than a conventional bat. So back yourself to hit the ball and the bat will take care of the rest." Its blade is 33 per cent shorter than a conventional bat and the handle 43 per cent longer, with no splice.

The same year, the London-based Black Cat Cricket introduced The Joker, another T20 specialist, with a shortened uniquely shaped blade and a longer, thicker handle, which is 1 inch longer than that of a short-handled bat and its blade 1 inch shorter.

Tech's helping hand

With the advent of technology "so many things are changing", says Anil Sareen, chief executive officer of the Stanford Cricket Industries that manufactures SF cricket gear, including bats. "Bat manufacturers who are well-equipped use CNC machines to craft, shape and produce bats. Now, you can manufacture thousands of bats with similar specifications of the one used by Sachin Tendulkar easily," he explains.

Sareen informs that there are also some technology and systems to aid in the 'knock-in' process of the bat. SF bats get made employing a few of them, as do some models from Australia, England and New Zealand.

But, from a technical point of view, it's near impossible to replicate or simulate the entire process of podshaving - the art of hand-crafting cricket bats. Be it selecting the willow, air-drying, pressing it, precise splicing, fixing the cane handle with rubber strips or shaping and sanding, it demands hell lot of human intervention.

One doesn't need too much of technology, says Irfan Sait, an ECB Level 3 coach, adding, "If it makes about 20-30 per cent difference to a player's performance, sure it matters, not when it is only 2-3 per cent."

Pointing out that the Mongoose had fizzled out soon after its much-publicized outing, Sait says that even the double-edged bat can't be handled like a tennis racquet, as it wouldn't be easy to bat without much meat behind the blade.

As for the quality of the willow being used for crafting bats nowadays, he observes, "It has become very bulky now. But to each his own."

So, while there is no denying that lathes, machines and other technological tools certainly aid bat production, the traditional hand-crafting might well be here to stay. What say?