Should you choose an English willow cricket bat?

All cricket bats are made from willow. There have been some experiments with other woods and other materials, famously Dennis Lillee's aluminum bat in the 70's which he unceremoniously threw when he was told he couldn't use it because it was damaging the ball.

 

and if you haven't seen it before this is the offending item after it landed! You can find the clip on YouTube if you want to see the incident.

Anyway, crazy opening bowlers apart, bats are now all made from willow although there are different sorts of willow and different grades.

There are three "types" of willow that make up the majority of cricket bats made today. There is English willow which has been grown in England, Salix alba 'Caerulea' to give it it's official title. Salix alba is also known as "white willow" not because of the color of the wood but because of the color of the leaves. Caerulea is a strain of salix alba that is particularly good for making cricket bats from. The willow is grown in low lying wetlands and close to rivers. The growing conditions in England make the willow soft, springy and lightweight compared to other woods. It is also very durable. English willow is generally light colored although there are variations.

The second "type" of willow is still Salix alba 'Caerulea'  but instead of being grown in England young willow trees are transplanted. There have been a number of experiments done in attempting to grow English willow in different countries where cricket is played but to date the results haven't matched up. England it seems has the perfect growing conditions to produce willow for cricket bats and it's very difficult to replicate anywhere else. 

The third type is Kashmiri willow, grown in the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan. The color of Kashmir willow tends to be a darker color than English willow and the wood is thought of as being harder and heavier. The industrious bat makers came up with a number of ways to combat these disadvantages. Willow can be chemically bleached which gives it a very nice white look and it can also be made to feel lighter by drying a lot of the moisture from the wood. The problem with this is both these processes tend to weaken the willow making it more likely to crack or break.

English willow cricket bat or Kasmiri willow?

After a willow tree (English or Kashmiri) has been felled and cut into clefts, the clefts are dried to the correct moisture levels and then pressed to compress the fibers. Both the drying and pressing re important to how well the finished cricket bat will play. It is possible to find Kashmiri bats that play better than English willow bats depending on the drying, pressing and the skill of the bat maker but you tend to have a much better chance of "getting a good one" by choosing English willow.

Grading English willow

This applies to English willow grown in England and not the other types. 

What most people don't know is how English willow is graded, and what even fewer know is that in most cases it's graded twice! The willow merchant is the chap who initially splits the felled willow tree into clefts. He will then grade the clefts. The best looking clefts will be air dried and will eventually be the top grades. Some willow merchants will air dry all the clefts, some put the lower grades in kilns to dry them quicker so they can get them to market faster. Air drying usually takes 3-6 months.

The willow merchant usually has five or more grades; grade 1, grade 2 etc. Most will also keep back some of the very best looking clefts and give them a special category such as limited edition or test quality. Each willow merchant has a slightly different way of grading his clefts. The clefts are then sold to the bat makers. The willow merchants tend to include a range clefts of each grade when they deliver to the bat maker. The bat maker then takes the cleft and cuts it down to the right size for a cricket bat. He will sand down the face of the bat and then give it his own grade.

In recent years the trend has been towards bats with a lot of grains. These bats tend to "knock in" faster but don't last as long.

Test grade bats typically have at least 10 grains. The grains should be perfectly straight and evenly spaced. No marks should be present on the face although there could be some redwood on the edge.

Grade 1 will have 7 or more grains. The grains will be pretty much straight and even and again there will be no marks on the face of the bat. There may be a little more redwood on the edge.

Grade 2 will have 5 or more grains and the grains should be fairly consistent although not perfectly straight or even. There may be a couple of small marks on the face and there may be more redwood than a grade 1 bat.

One last thing that is worth knowing - two clefts that are the same size will have different weights. Even if the moisture content of both clefts has been brought down to the same percentage level the weights will differ. This is down to the nature of the fibers of the willow and how they have developed in the growing willow tree. You can get a bigger looking bat from a light weight cleft which is something most people want.

How to get the right bat

Most of the big brand bats that are sold "off the shelf" tend to be grade 2 or grade 3 willow. They are quite often marked as "5 Star Willow" or they will just proudly display an "English willow" sticker. Grade 1 and Test Grade willow is the best of the best and is a lot less available than most people think. If you know that you want a very high grade English willow bat the best way to ensure you get what you want is to contact the bat maker directly. You can do this with the big brand bat makers or you can get in touch with one of the independent bat makers that are out there. Speaking as one of the independent guys I'd be happy to help you if you have any questions and whether one of my bats is best for you or whether you would be better with a different brand I'll give you the best advice I can.

all the best

Richard

richard@crictech.com

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CricTech makes outstanding, hand crafted cricket bats from the finest quality English willow for competitive cricketers using our unique sweet spot analysis process. Check us out.