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[Akewstick]

I searched and this hasn't been discussed in detail and not for years.

When I started playing indoor a couple of years ago my first instinct was that ping, the middle, and the quality of the willow were totally irrelevant, and if you've got something light that you can move quick enough to get a bat on every ball, that's all you could want from an indoor bat.

Having said that, there are sites like MSR and SQ sports which advertise specifically indoor bats, although I assumed these were just bats that were over dried or of such poor quality wood that you wouldn't trust them against a leather ball.

Is there something to look for in an indoor bat. I'm not suggesting I'm going to buy a grade 1 bat and smash it about the floor of indoor court but hypothetically, is a decent middle and good quality wood going to make any difference at all to those yellow foam balls?

[ProCricketer1982]

buy a light plank. YOu are just going to nudge and run and it only needs to go about 5 meters anyway!!

[Rob580]

I planed down the back of an old Slazenger V-something-or-other for Indoor for exactly this reason. Got it down to about 2lb, with no spine and about 10mm edges. Seems to work pretty well.

[WalkingWicket37]

why not just use your match bat for indoor cricket? Or if you have a net bat for indoor net sessions to protect your match bat use that?
Non existent problem to my mind...

[roco]

I just use my net bat as I still like to give it some oomph and hit the back wall for a 4/6 if bad ball

[ProCricketer1982]

I just use my net bat as I still like to give it some oomph and hit the back wall for a 4/6 if bad ball

in the chelt indoor (and glos), people who try and go for 4/6's tend to do worse overall. not that you are wrong to hit it there. Just think that for indoor, a plank tha tis light to just nudge and run is more effective.

[Rob580]

I don't know about other leagues, but in ours the ball is effectively a hard rubber ball. So it is so soft, it is not going to deform the willow in any shape or form, so the properties of the willow itself have no relation to how the ball travels, it is purely down to bat speed.

Other leagues may be different and use a harder ball though.

[roco]

in the chelt indoor (and glos), people who try and go for 4/6's tend to do worse overall. not that you are wrong to hit it there. Just think that for indoor, a plank tha tis light to just nudge and run is more effective.

it depends on situation as I look for runs but if a rank long hop or bad ball I can hit back wall most times

I agree those who only look for back wall miss out on loads but if you look for both it makes life so much easier