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[Offthesquare]

I had 2 bats made for me out of a pretty well known bat factory in Pakistan..... They are both great bits of wood... And both go great.......Interestingly I had one refurbed by one of the bat makers on here (perfectly I add) (I hooked one high on the splice and the handle just felt a little like it had lost a degree of stiffness.....)

My assessment of the willow was backed up by said bat maker - well pressed and well crafted, these 2 bats are a thing of beauty.

However it was pointed out to me that 'some' bats made out of Pakistan are 'sometimes' made a little narrower than English made counterparts, gives a little more license to make them a little bigger spine and edge size.

I haven't done the math to work out how much this equates to but let's say 3/4 mm over the length of the bat probably gives you a reasonable amount of wood to place elsewhere in the profile.  I'm sure someone here will actually work it out and tell me it's actually utterly fractional and will not be a noticeable difference - but my match bat weighs 2-8 is very large spine and edge wise and goes like a dream (and has done for one and a half seasons now - so I'll challenge the over dryed notion, before someone mentions it.)

Apparently it's more likely to get a thinner bat with massive edges from the subcontinent.  But that's not exactly news - just maybe think about how that extra size is sometimes achieved.

[Vitas Cricket]

OK, so every time Gary from B&S comes to see us, we inevitably talk about cricket, cricket bats and anything cricket related.

One topic that comes up regularly is the width of a bat. Many manufacturers seem to be making the face of their bats narrower, presumably to allow for bigger edges/spines without compromising on weight.

Bellingham & Smith pride themselves on making bats that are as wide as the laws allow; 108mm. Personally i would rather have a bat that is as wide as possible than something with bigger edges which reduces my chance of making contact with a delivery. I decided to do a little experiment with some of the bats in stock (not too many left, we've had a good Summer so far!) to see who's doing what with regard to width.
I've heard about a few B3 customers who are not happy at a harrow width SH bat, same with Black Cat & Newbery. I'm sure many other brands i don't stock do this, but these 3 crop up regularly. Gary was very keen to point out that my Laver Reserve was visibly narrower than the B&S bats we had in stock, i was a little gutted after being forced to agree with him, the difference is definitely visible without a tape measure.

All measurements taken approx 2 inches up from the toe. Taken with 2 different tape measures and checked twice, once by me, once by Robin.



B&S Supreme Old Shape - 109mm (triple checked)

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GN Dynadrive - 108mm
GN Powerbow Strauss LE - 108mm
GN Powerbow, Oblivion and Maverick LE & Players - 108mm
GN Legend - 108mm

Kookaburra Menace 700 - 108mm
Kookaburra Ricochet Players - 108mm
Kookaburra Recoil 900 - 108mm

GM Epic Players Edition - 108mm
GM Epic Original LE - 108mm
GM Epic 909 - 108mm
GM Zona 808 - 108mm
GM Argon F2 Original LE - 108mm
The rest of the GM's are all 108mm too...

B&S Supreme New Shape - 108mm
B&S Fireblade - 108mm
B&S LE - 108mm
Chase 167 (in for a refurb) - 108mm
SF Platinum - 108mm
SF Triumph - 108mm

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Slazenger V12 - 107mm
Slazenger V6 - 107mm
Slazenger V100 Ultimate - 107mm
Slazenger V100 Pro - 107mm
Slazenger 2012 range: V500, V100, V360, V200 Ultimate, Elite and Pro - 107mm

TON Power Blaster - 107mm
Kookaburra Kahuna 800 - 107mm
Kookaburra Kahuna 1250 - 107mm

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Laver & Wood Reserve - 106mm
Kookaburra Kahuna T20 - 106mm
Bradbury Players - 106mm
Newbery Thruxton 5 Star - 106mm
M&H Master - 106mm
TON LE - 106mm
TON Heritage - 106mm
Willostix Classic Anaconda - 106mm

A bat made by a batmaker who doesn't like to be named - 105mm

Newbery GT 5 Star - 104mm (Measuring up near the splice records 102mm! Most other bats seem to lose a maximum of 1mm as you go towards the shoulders)

So based on my very quick and unofficial test, as a general trend it seems the biggest brands are doing the right thing, aside from Slazenger and the Kookaburra Kahuna range. SS TON may be trying to pull the wool over our eyes, but SF are as honest as they are well priced. The correlation between narrow bats and a certain well known batmaker who likes to (try and) keep his work secret jumps off the page for me. The batmakers brand has some of the narrowest bats, and bats made by him are not far behind either.

Of course bats with pre-applied scuff sheets have an advantage over those without, and the techniques used to measure a round face bat are up for debate. Flat faces are straight forward, but do you measure round faces with the tape measure in contact with the face (thus, slightly increasing the distance the tape measure travels) or from edge to edge raised above the face? I did the latter.

Thoughts?

[ACM0608]

Interesting that. I must say its something I have never even thought about but will measure my 2 bats tonight. I guess 2-3mm may not seem much but it could be the difference between an edge that goes to the keeper or one that goes through 2nd slip. I know which batmaker you are talking about and I thought his bats are made with a CNC machine and finished by hand so how come they are not exact like GM for example. You would think they would be unless the CNC is deliberately set to a narrower setting.

[praguetaz]

Really interesting discovery...

I'm going to measure all my bats tonight and see if any are reduced in width...

[tushar sehgal]

I am really not sure how this is pulling the wool over someone's eyes. They meet the law in terms of size (not exceeding) and I am not sure if 1 or 2 mm here and there would make a massive difference.

Interesting stats none the less and thanks for putting in effort to do this but sometimes I think we all focus on things that might not need four attention...not have a go btw just stating my opinion....

[Spanky]

The bats could end up thinner due to the final sanding. Possibly they are made to the correct width but lose some width during sanding and finishing.

Personally I think the odd 1-2mm makes no difference as it's swings and roundabouts. With a 108mm width face you may get a fine edge to the keeper but had you had a slightly thinner face you would have missed the ball. But then on the other hand you could edge to 1st slip with a harrow width bat whereas had you been using a full width bat the edge may have gone wide of 2nd slip.

Personally a bat with a width anywhere between Harrow and full size is fine by me.

[mattw]

From a retail POV - I would have thought that all SH blades would be the maximum width/height that is allowed by the laws. There is going to be a slight natural difference for the bats that are truly hand made rather than CNC'd.

I did notice a couple of bats that I have had from a certain bat maker in the past are taller than most bats that are currently on the market and those bats are handmade with a specially made ruler in which he gets all of the dimensions of a bat from, so it seems that most brands are cutting corners with this to make the bats look bigger.

For me personally, I use a harrow size(width/length) blade and but with a longer handle to make it into a SH length bat, but I would always get these custom/hand made. This is just personal preference as for me, I would prefer the extra punch in a bat that taking out a couple of mm on the width and length of the bat adds - for me it's pointless to have the extra willow on the edge and spine of the bat as you do not look to hit the ball in these areas.

[Vitas Cricket]

I agree it doesn't make too much difference in the grand scheme of things, nonetheless when it is visibly noticeable it may result in psychological effects; eg loss of confidence in a narrower bat.

Also some people may feel shortchanged by a bat that isn't as wide as a rival, despite both being marketed as full size.

Apologies for not searching thoroughly enough btw admins, thank you for merging my topic

[Blazer]

I would rather have a bat narrower by few mm to compensate for size than a heavily concave one with full width.

[fasteddie]

When you're as out of touch as I am every mm counts!

I've not checked my H4L, but I think there is a hole on the inside edge where I keep getting pinned LBW.

When you're seeing it, it might as well be a training bat. When you're not, well a brick wall wouldn't help.

[Bats_Entertainment]

I would have  for me it's pointless to have the extra willow on the edge and spine of the bat as you do not look to hit the ball in these areas.

But you'll always edges on your bat! You could argue that making your bat narrower increases your chances of finding them.

[mattw]

But you'll always edges on your bat! You could argue that making your bat narrower increases your chances of finding them.

it works both ways, as you could also miss it as well as extending the sweetspot out to the edge of the blade by having a narrower bat... It works for me and I've only genuinely edged one or two all season thus far which have luckily ended up safe. I've got confidence in my batting and that's all that matters as this is the shape of bat that suits me and my game.

[Kulli]

The issue is mis selling stuff rather than what is an optimum shape.

[Bats_Entertainment]

I've got confidence in my batting...

Lucky you!

[crictech]

best way to measure the width is put the bat face down on a sheet of paper and mark the edges. measuring around the face will probably put the measurement out by a mil or two