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[uknsaunders]

Playing around with a few bats last night testing the response with a ball. What I did observe was despite the highish middles they responded up to 26-28cm on the blade. A few caveats here, some are being knocked in and none have seen match action. Also all bar one are harrow length. From what I could tell there is a 5cm gap below the stickers (remember the stickers extend below the splice in many cases) where despite a fair chunk of wood it doesn't respond that well. Could it just be me lol

Has anybody actually had a bat that pings right below the stickers or is this a myth? I think what I have heard from Streaky/Paul Aldred seems to say you won't get much response for a number of reasons.

[Chad]

Some more than others. I think that it can be deceptive though, as bat speed around that area is significantly slower than that of the middle when playing shots, so although the rebound may seem decent, you're highly unlikely going to be able to hit a six from there, unless it's a hook. I do like to test that area though, it never really 'pings' as such, but I've never had a bad bat which has some sort of decent response there, which is why I tend to judge my bats from how well they respond up towards the sticker. (Had a few decent bats with absolutely dead toes)

Paul Aldred's post on FB covers it all, you want the response to be best over the area he has drawn.

Personally I feel that a decent amount of wood up near the top adds stability to the blade overall, but that's just from experience!

[Cin88]

I can safely say that the older of my two Kookaburra Kahunas does, there's bias here though as the stickers do extend quite far down towards the middle of the bat thanks to their shape.

[TangoWhiskey]

My Aldred Gold Sovereign pings from the bottom of the stickers to about 2 inches above the toe. It's a cracking bat, by far the best I've owned.

[Seniorplayer]

Also have handmade bats  to my specs with high middles hardly any stickers that ping really high toes are dead though