New Cricket Equipment

I've always been one of those cricketers that loves to see new, innovative cricket equipment come out at the start of each new season. It started when I was a young guy. I remember Slazenger brought out the V12 with that distinctively shaped back and Gray-Nics came out with the Scoop.

These days it's hard to find a bat that hasn't been sculpted or gouged or rounded or concaved.

This season we saw Slazenger introduce toe and shoulder inserts, having teamed up with the TAS Bats company in Australia who developed the technology.  TAS stands for torsioned and sprung (yes, I know torsioned isn't a word) which describes the process they use. They take a piece of oak which is then pre-bent and then fitted into a groove on the edge and/or toe of the bat.

TAS Bats

Their testing shows a large percentage increase in the springiness of the rebound of the ball. These inserts are allowed for all levels below first class but not for the pro's. They are fitted in the new Slaz V100 or you can send your bat off to Oz for a retrofit at $85 AUD. This is their first season so it will be interesting to see how they play.

Handle technology is another ever moving target. James Laver over at Laver & Wood is one of the innovators in this field. He has four different handle options all comprised of slightly different materials to give his customers a choice that better suits their batting style. This season he brought out the new C-Ten handle.

C-Ten Handle

The honeycomb insert is reported to give more stability to the bat on impact with the ball, which means less flex and more power. Again this is new technology so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

And of course I have to mention our own octagonal shaped handle. I've done a blog on it which you can read here, but if you haven't seen it before here's a quick pic. More control, less shake and it keeps your hands in the correct position all the way through your shot which is a revelation if, like me, you have trouble with one hand or the other being dominant.

Octagonal Handle

One other product I think is excellent is a coaching product developed by a fellow Yorkshireman. I remember spending hours hitting a ball off a cardboard tube, trying to put it in an upturned bucket. A lot of people don't realize how important it is to be able to get in the right position to play your shot and direct the ball. This product takes it to a new level.

Cricket Coaching Mats

I guarantee that if you are having any issues with an particular shot, hitting a hundred ball from these coaching mats will be better than a week's worth of nets.

If there's anything you'd like reviewed, let me know

cheers

Richard

richard@crictech.com

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

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

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

Cricket Bat Care

For cricketers in the northern hemisphere the new season is just a couple of months and for the guys in the southern hemisphere their season will be ending around the same time.

I wanted to share a couple of tips on bat care and maintenance with you. Firstly I would always suggest removing or changing the face sheet. It's a good idea to take it off so you can get a proper look at the face of your bat and reapply a coat of linseed oil.

When you are removing the face sheet DO NOT pull the sheet straight down the bat like this.

If you do it is likely that you will pull out the fibers of the willow leaving gouges in the face of your bat.

Instead peel the face sheet of starting at the side like this

When you have removed the face sheet there may be some adhesive residue left on the willow. Here's a tip to remove it. Get a cloth and put a little vegetable oil on it then rub the oil into the adhesive. It should lift off like magic! Get a second cloth to dry off any oil that is left on the bat.

Once you have cleaned up your bat face you need to examine it for any cracks. Small surface cracks running horizontally across the face are fine, in fact they are a sign that the bat is knocked in properly. What you need to look for are any cracks that have lifted the wood. These deeper cracks can develop so they need closing up.

To close a crack you will need some superglue, strong tape and a stick. Using a knife flatten one edge of the stick so you can use it to push the glue into the crack. Push as much glue as you can into the crack then bind the crack tight with the tape. It's a good idea to keep some pressure on it with your thumb for a few minutes until the glue has set off. Leave it for a hour and then very carefully remove the tape. The crack should have closed up a treat.

The next thing I'd suggest is to sand down the face of your bat. It is best to use two grades of sandpaper, a 60 grit for the initial sanding and then a 100 grit to finish. You can't go from 60 to something really fine like 220. The way sandpaper works is that is carves out grooves in the wood. If you start with a 60 there will be big grooves. If you then try to use a 220, which is very fine, you will be sanding for hours to get down to the depth of the groove left by the 60.

Here's a tip for sanding -  take a lead pencil and lightly draw some lines on your bat face then use your 60 grit sandpaper to sand away the pencil marks. This will ensure you get an even sanding across the whole face. Repeat this with the 100 grit paper.

Once you have the face and edges nice and clean and sanded down it's time to apply the linseed oil. Make sure you use only RAW linseed oil. The boiled linseed oil that you get from the DIY stores is a polish and isn't going to do the job. It could damage the properties of the willow.

You don't need to apply much linseed oil, just one light, even coat. Look at the bat in different lights to make sure you've got everywhere. Don't get fooled into applying more if the wood sucks it in quickly. After the first coat you need to leave your bat for 3 days before applying a second coat. Then leave your bat a further 3 days before you use it or put on a new face sheet.

If you want to give the back a light sanding and reapply linseed just go careful around the stickers. To clean the vinyl stickers I've been using one of those magic erase sponges you can buy in the cleaning products aisle. Works a treat!

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

Octagonal Cricket Bat Handle

Reduced Bat Shake

I recently started offering an octagonal handle option on my bats. The size and shape is similar to that of a tennis racket handle. Initially I was looking to develop something that would reduce the "shake" you get when the ball is hit off-center.

Greater Power and Control

So many batsmen loose their wickets by lobbing a catch when the ball is hit off center and the bat twists in the hands. The bones in our hands and fingers don't form a circle or even an oval when we grip which is why an octagonal shaped handle gives a much better grip. The octagonal handle doesn't just reduce shake it also delivers greater power and control as the face of the bat is more stable on impact with the ball.

While testing the handle I found there is another benefit that I hadn't expected.....

I don't know about you but I'm quite often guilty of not holding the correct shape when I'm driving the ball. By that I mean keeping the leading elbow high and punching through with the bottom hand (think of that elegant drive position the top batsmen always seem to manage to hold long enough for the photographers to get the shot).

Forces your Hands in to the Right Position

I'm a right handed batsman so I've always assumed that this was down to my stronger right arm taking over from my weaker left arm too early. To counter this I've gradually reduced the tightness of my grip with my bottom hand to ensure the lead arm does the work. In testing the octagonal handle I've found out that the issue isn't my top hand it's my bottom hand! The shape of the handle forces you to maintain the proper grip and keep your hands in the correct position all the way through the shot. It was a pretty big revelation to me and I wonder how many other guys out there are suffering from the same issue without knowing the solution.

A Solution for Bottom Handed Players

If you, like me, feel that your bottom hand tends to dominate that may not be the issue. It could simply be that your bottom hand is sliding round your handle. If so, I'd definitely suggest trying an octagonal shaped handle.

Great Training Aide for Youth Players

As the octagonal handle forces you to maintain the correct hand position all the way through the shot it makes a great training aide for young and upcoming players.

If you are interested give me a shout.

cheers

Richard

____________________________________________________________________________



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.

Finding the Sweet Spot of Your Cricket Bat

I was listening to the India vs England test match commentary the other night and they were discussing how slow and low the Nagpur wicket was. Nasser Hussain said that when they were last in Lahore playing on a similar track, the boys went out to buy local made bats because they had low middles.

Cricketing "Old Wives Tale"

It amazes me that this notion that on slow wickets you need a low middle bat and on fast, bouncy wickets you need a high middle bat is still taken as fact. It's the cricketing equivalent of an old wives tale and if you actually think about it, it makes no sense at all.

Why is the Sweet Spot so Important?

The sweet spot is a very important area of the bat. When you hit a ball from the sweet spot you get full value - the maximum power and control - so it makes sense that you would want to hit it as often as possible.

Ok, so before I tell you how you can find the best place for the sweet spot on your bat let's lay to rest this slow track, low middle, fast track, high middle notion nonsense.

Slow Track, Low Middle. Fast Track, High Middle - Bull!

First of all let's eliminate the notion as it applies to back foot, or rather horizontal bat shots. You're on a fast, bouncy track, the ball is short and wide outside off stump, you rock back, get up and your toes and cut the ball from chest height past point for a boundary. Good shot! Where abouts on the bat did you hit the ball? Right out of the sweet spot I hope. Ok so now you're on a slow, low deck, the ball is short and wide outside off stump, you rock back, plant your feet and cut the ball from waist height past point for a boundary. Good shot! Where abouts on the bat did you hit it this time? If your answer is "from exactly the same spot" then congratulations, you have the right answer. The only thing that has changed was the height of the ball, for the bouncy track you got up on your toes, for the slow track you planted your feet. You put yourself in a position so you could hit the ball out of the middle of your bat. Now what would have happened if you were using a bat with a very low middle? In that split second when you were getting yourself in the perfect position to play your shot would you have thought to yourself "hang on a second, I'm using a low middle bat because I'm on a slow track. That means the middle is lower down the bat so if I'm going to hit it out of the sweet spot I'm going to have to give myself a bit more room. I'm going to have to alter my technique for playing the cut shot." No, you'd just play your shot and miss the sweet spot. Same applies if you have a high middle bat on a bouncy track. Your not going to try get closer to the ball because the sweet spot is higher.

Ok, so maybe the low middle / high middle only applies to straight bat shots? No, it doesn't work for that either. Let's use the same example. You're on a slow, low wicket. You go forward to drive the ball and the ball skids through. What do you do? Well most batsmen will drop their hands and block the ball. You don't continue through with your drive. On a bouncy wicket if you go forward to drive the ball and the ball jumps up at you most batsmen will either block or get their bat out of the way.

Technique and Timing are Key

The point is you adapt your shot to the conditions in just the same way you change your timing depending on the speed of the bowler you are facing. As batsmen we adapt our shot to the ball. Some batsmen get very low and take a big stride, some batsmen wait and play the ball a little higher. There's no right or wrong way, as long as you are timing the ball and getting results.

Does Your Sweet Spot Stay in the Same Place?

The next important question is do we always aim to hit the ball from the same spot on the bat? And the answer to that is yes. This is your timing and technique. You've spent countless hours practicing and batting out in the middle. It's why batting becomes easier the longer you spend at the crease. You are getting used to the wicket and the bowlers. Your technique tells you what position to get in, to go forward or to go back and your timing determines at what point you impact the ball.

I've analyzed hundreds of batsmen, batting in every conceivable batting condition, facing different types of bowling using our impact marker sheets. If you naturally drive the ball 6" from the toe of the bat on a fast track facing a big, tall quick bowler you will still naturally drive the ball at 6" from the toe on a slow, low track facing a slow, low arm bowler. Your shot selection will change, your timing will change, but when you get in position to play your drive you will always aim to hit it from exactly the same spot on your bat.

The Crack! of Leather on Willow

If you have a bat with the sweet spot in the correct position for your technique you won't always hit it. It would be great if you could! If your sweet spot is in the right place, when you play the correct shot and time it the ball will come right out of the middle, it will feel effortless, there will be no vibration through the handle and you will hear the sweetest sound in cricket, the Crack! of leather on willow. There is no better feeling than that. The thing is, if your sweet spot is out of position for your technique, when you play the perfect drive you are going to miss hitting the sweet spot and you are going to loose both power and control.

Ok, so now we know the sweet spot isn't determined by the bounciness of the wicket or the speed or height of the bowler you are facing. Now that we know it's all down to your individual technique the question you want answered is how can I measure where my sweet spot should be? Luckily this is quite easy to do. Because the bounciness of the wicket and the speed of the ball aren't the determining factors you can use any flat surface. I always suggest going down to the nets because you don't have to keep running after the ball but it doesn't effect the results if you are on astroturf, real turf or concrete.

How to Measure the Optimum Position for Your Sweet Spot.

Here's what you need to do. Find a flat surface, preferably nets, get padded up and have a buddy with you who can give you some easy paced throw downs, preferably with regular cricket balls. I say easy paced because again, the speed doesn't matter but it is easier to time a gentle paced throw down than a ball that is whizzing down at 90 mph.

You will need something stuck to the face of your bat that will leave a mark when the ball hits it. I developed the impact marker sheet, which is an adhesive sheet that shows a grey colored mark when the ball hits it. They are ideal for this but anything that will leave an imprint will be able to give you a good idea of where you are hitting the ball. Have your buddy throw the ball down at you, nice and full just outside off stump and what you are going to do is drive the ball firmly, along the ground as if you were hitting a boundary shot.

After 12-18 impacts you will start to see a grouping of marks. If you are a bit off the marks may be spread out, some near the toe, some near the splice. Just continue hitting the throw downs until there is a clear grouping of impact marks. Once you have this measure the distance of the center of the grouping from the toe of the bat and there you go! You now know where your optimum sweet spot position is.

Not Just the Sweet Spot but the Whole Cricket Bat Profile.

Before you run out down to the nets, one more thing. The process I've just told you about will help you find the right position for the sweet spot for your drive but as batsmen we have a range of shots. Naturally we don't always hit every attacking shot from the same spot on the bat.

I've been working with the impact sheets and analyzing different batsmen's results for 3 years now. What all these results have done is given me a very good insight into the similarities and differences between batsmen. Over 50% of the guys I've worked with are using a bat profile that doesn't suit their technique, and by profile I don't just mean where the sweet spot is positioned, I mean the whole shape of the bat and how the thickness of the wood is distributed to give maximum results for all a batsman's attacking shots.

I've developed an analysis process that measures a range of shots and asks some in depth questions to allow me to come up with an individually tailored cricket bat design. I'm also making fully customized Grade 1 English willow and Limited Edition English willow cricket bats for certain discerning customers!

If you are interested in getting the analysis process done and / or you are in the market for a new bat get in touch with me and I'll work with you personally to help you get what you need. Time is limited so I'm only making this offer to the guys on the newsletter group.

Here's my email   richard@crictech.com

..... and here's what a few of the guys who have bought the bats are saying

Brilliant bat, great rebound the confidence you gain from knowing that the middle is right where you want it to be. Richard was very easy to converse with and able to accommodate my preferences, now I will never have to go anywhere else for another Bat. Crictech your one stop shop for the best bat money can buy (and it doesn't cost that much).
Andrew Malone - Australia

"CricTech is a pioneer is engineering bats to a players specification by utilizing cutting edge technology that has never been used before."
Abhimanyu Rajp - USA National Team

"I've played cricket for nearly 15 years and my Crictech bat is without doubt, the best bat I've ever used. Crictech's design process allows me to get more value for my shots. My timing has never been better and this gives me peace of mind when I'm at the crease. Richard's customer service is second-to-none & he made sure I was involved in the design process."
David O'Connor - USA

"Crictech bats - An art of innovation and precision"
Mobin Firoz - United Arab Emirates

My new personalized Crictech bat is amazing. The middle of the bat was customized to my style and I received it in just a few of days. Speedy personalized service! Thanks Crictech for a great job!
Mark Punshon - USA

The bat is amazing I specially Ordered it for T20 and it is perfectly designed to my specific style of play. The bat amazes me, as it builds confidence also from the first ball itself no matter if I am defending or playing an aggressive shot because of the big sweet spot basically all of the bat. The easiest thing is that I did not have to get use to the bat, as the Bat was made for me. I can keep going and going about how you and your team amazed me with the technology that you use to create such and elegant as well as a Monster of a bat for me. I think every cricketer should try CRICTECH BATS.
Kartik Patel - USA

Richard is very hands on with the whole process from determining the correct middle to designing the bat as far as weight, handle and pickup is concerned. Fast delivery and exactly as you wanted it when you receive it and great customer service. I won’t hesitate to get another one or two bats in the future from CricTech!
Theo Mavro - USA South West Region Representative Player

I came across CRICTECH while browsing for bats in US. I looked up there website and followed them on the Facebook to see what people thought about their bats. Most of the people were happy with their bats and quality of wood and balance etc.
So I decided to contact Richard, he was very detail oriented and explained me there bat making process and where the wood is from and where the bats are made and how they analysis the stroke sheets that we send them. I did the stroke sheet and sent him my weight requirement, handle shape etc And I got the bat in the estimated time Richard gave me and it is a great willow (for the price paid), I have had the bat for about 6 months now and have played around 6( 40 over) matches and 5( 20-20)matches and have been using it in practice as well the ping was decent when I got the bat but it’s been getting better! And I am very happy with my bat, its balance, weight and the ping. I will surely buy another CRICTECH bat in future :)
Satwant Singh - Arizona Cricket Club

"The crictech bat seems like an extension of my arm. Based on my swing and the strength of muscles of my forearm there is a fluidity of stroke making that is unique in this bat where the weight is tailored to your game. Hopefully it will translate into some runs for me!"
Vijay Trishal - USA

"I got my bat customize from Crictech. Once I received my bat and hold on to it and instantly felt that the bat belongs to me. Perfect balance and light weight just exactly what I wanted it."

Ankit Parmar - USA

National Media - Cricket Magazine reviews on CricTech.

Please note - these are last year's style stickers on the bats

Wisden’s “The Cricketer” magazine in their August 2012 issue gave our Grade 1 Signature bat 4 1/2 stars out of 5 for both build quality and performance, a 5 star rating being “peerless in its field”.

“ALL OUT CRICKET” magazine in their July 2012 issue ran a two page spread dedicated to the CricTech analysis process.

____________________________________________________________________________


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.

The Big Edge Debate

There's been a lot of debate about big edged bats. Here's a couple of thoughts to consider when you're selecting a profile for your new bat.

Flat faced, concaved bats make for bats with huge edges. If this is a confidence booster then that is a good reason to opt for this type of profile. 

Looking at the first diagram below you can see the differences and similarities between a traditional profile, a concave profile and a rounded, convex back. All these 3 shapes have the same area of wood and the same spine height. 

This second diagram overlays the three different profiles so you can compare the shapes.

The best area to hit the ball is the area inline with the handle as that tends to produce less "shake" than when the ball hits closer to the edge. 

One other thing to consider is how much edge you are showing to the bowler. Bat faces aren't always pointing directly to the line of flight of the ball. If you close the face for a shot or if the ball is moving off the straight there will be more chance of nicking off with a bigger edge.

This diagram shows the 3 different bat profiles tilted to 25 degrees. As you can see the bigger the edge, the more edge there is to hit. 

There's definitely a case for saying that you are more likely to edge the ball with a bigger edged bat. It also takes wood away from the middle area of the bat - the spot you are aiming to hit the ball from. Other than the look, I'm not convinced that a big edge will help the ball sail over the slips for 6, If anything it is more likely to make the ball carry to the slips, but as I said at the start, if it feels right then that's a good enough reason to choose it.

____________________________________________________________________________

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.

welcome

Welcome cricketer! Thanks for joining this newsletter / blog, hopefully you'll find some interesting talking points in it and whether you agree or disagree all comments are welcome.

I'm a cricketer. I've played ever since I could walk and hold a bat and I've been fortunate enough to have been coached in my early years by some of the best, and to have played with and against players who have reached the highest cricketing standards.

In The Zone

The great thing about cricket is you don't have to reach any particular level to be a true cricketer. If you love the game and you practice and strive to improve, eventually, during a game, you will find yourself in "the zone" or as some people call it the bubble - that near magical place where you find you are so in-tune with what is going on and the part you are playing, that you are no longer "thinking" about what to do, you're instincts and more importantly your intuitions have taken over. This for me is truly being in the game - real cricket. Combine that with the competition and camaraderie that cricket allows you to experience and you have a sport like no other, and that's why we live and breathe it.

I love cricket, playing it, coaching it, watching it, talking about it, the equipment and especially the bats. There's nothing like the smell of raw linseed and there's no sound like the "crack!" of leather on willow.

I've been involved with coaching and youth development for a number of years and it was while I was coaching a group of our youth players out here in Southern California that I came up with the idea for the impact sheets. I don't know about you but I'm a visual learner, I find it much easier to change something if I can get some sort of visual feedback. What I was looking for was something that would show the guys where on the bat they were hitting the ball. By doing this they could make any necessary adjustments and improve their timing, and as we know, timing, although it might not be everything in cricket, it's damn important.

The CricTech Impact Sheets

What I came up with was the impact sheet - a simple adhesive backed sheet that marked every time a ball hit it. These things worked a treat. While I was testing them I noticed something which at first seems obvious - there were a few different guys in the nets using the impact sheets and practicing their drives, all using regular cricket balls being thrown down at roughly the same speed. While one guy was consistently hitting the ball at 5" from the toe of his bat, another was hitting at around 7.5" and the third at 8.5".  Not that surprising but I've always been told that on slow, low wickets you are best with a low middled bat and on fast bouncy tracks you need a bat with a high middle. The results I was getting had nothing to do with the bounciness or speed of the wicket but one guy needed a high middled bat and another would have been better with a low sweet spot. It got me thinking that the speed or bounciness of the wicket didn't have any effect on what sort of profile bat you were best suited to so I went out and tested it. Lot's of batsmen from different countries batting in every condition facing different speeds of bowling. None of it mattered. If you hit your drives 7' from the toe on a slow wicket facing a skidy, low arm spin bowler you'll still hit your drives at 7" from the toe on a fast bouncy track facing a 6'5" quick. Your shot selection will be different but where you hit the ball for your drive won't change.

Measuring the Sweet Spot

And that got me started. Now I could measure where a batsman's optimum sweet spot should be. I didn't stop there I measured the whole range of attacking shots. I found that by measuring two particular types of shot played by a batsman I could place the sweet spot accurately and come up with an optimum profile of bat taking into account where he or she hit all their other attacking shots from.

After designing and testing a few different bats I went into business and started selling them to guys in my team, then my cricket league and eventually to cricketers from all over. The business is still small but it's great to be able to communicate with someone in Australia or India and deliver them a bat that is specifically designed to suit their technique and the feedback so far has been fantastic.

I've found that close to 6 out of every 10 batsmen are using a bat profile that does not suit their technique. If you hit the perfect cover drive with the wrong profile bat you could miss the sweet spot by 3 or 4 inches. It makes a big difference to the amount of power and control you can get.

If you would like to test to see if your bat profile suits your technique or if you are thinking of getting a new bat, get in touch with me and I'll give you a few different options to help make sure you have the right bat in your bag.

I'd be happy to hear any comments or field any questions you have about the analysis process or anything else you've read in this post that interests you.

cheers

Richard