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[sachin200]

1. Is it the bat edges?
2. Weight?
3. Stiff handle?
4. Flexible handle (whip)?
5. Spine size?
6. Batters big forearms now a days?
7. Just pure timing?
8. Batters confidence after the advent of T20?
9. Lack of real good bowlers?
10. Shorter boundaries?
Which factors are scientifically more important than others? Which aren't significant at all?

[northernboy1987]

I reckon 6,8 and 10 might be the biggest factors.

[Mpt7]

1. hand speed
2. base power - stronger batters
3. new hitting techniques i.e power hitting/baseball
4. flatter wickets - more consistent behavior

[ppccopener]

overdried bats with big edges, protective equipment for batters(no one is slog sweeping without a lid)

I thing handles are stiffer nowadays

[Mpt7]

there's a great video of bairstow, i think, trying to hit 6s with bats from different ears. quite enlightening

[alexhilly1492]

there's a great video of bairstow, i think, trying to hit 6s with bats from different ears. quite enlightening

Luke Wright did it at hove i think, not a big ground but its interesting to see the difference between different eras of bats.

I think he used, WG grace, Ranjit, Ramprakash and one of his one or something like that anyway. all seem to be brand new bats but made in the same profiles and weights that would have been used

[Mpt7]

Luke Wright did it at hove i think, not a big ground but its interesting to see the difference between different eras of bats.

I think he used, WG grace, Ranjit, Ramprakash and one of his one or something like that anyway. all seem to be brand new bats but made in the same profiles and weights that would have been used

YOU RIPPER!! been looking at Jonny Bairstow's ginger gait for the last 30 minutes!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOlaSVoGVrw

[alexhilly1492]

YOU RIPPER!! been looing at Jonny Bairstow's ginger gait for the last 30 minutes!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOlaSVoGVrw

That's the one!!

[sachin200]

The video has one flaw - the bats aren't of same weight. Physics says F=M.a i.e. Force transferred to the ball = mass of the bat x acceleration in the bat speed. It can't be changed doesn't matter what. I don't think it has anything to do with edge size or how big it looks as long as they are of same weight and traveling at the same speeds. May be weight distribution of the bat has a larger effect. If a bat maker make a heavy bat seem light in weight (nice pickup), that is going to help our equation because of higher m and same 'a'.

I think stiffer handles are a hoax. Read the Collision between bat and ball paragraph here.
 http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~cross/cricket.html

The impact time is only 0.001 sec between bat and ball. The handle firmness is not going to matter. I know that a few Pakistani bat makers have extra strips of rubber in the handles to make them flexible. Actually it batter to not feel any vibrations in the hand to get a feeling that you have muddled everything. A few professionals take out twine and apply zinc tapes to their handles  For making them slightly more flexible. Again, all it does is prevent your hands from experiencing extra vibrations. On the other hand, stiff handles are going to experience more vibrations. Anyone who has done binding of traditional handles can tell you that one doesn't need carbon inserts for stiffer handles. You can simply use twine - just wrap it extra tight/use more PVA glue to get the same effect (not that it helps in real).
 
In the end I think it is more about the feeling that a batter gets from his bat other than anything else.

[InternalTraining]

^ Have you ever hit a ball with a bat that has a flexible/whippy handle?

[InternalTraining]

YOU RIPPER!! been looking at Jonny Bairstow's ginger gait for the last 30 minutes!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOlaSVoGVrw

Where is the "bloke holding it" crowd? There must be something wrong with Luke Wright if he is gives Ranjit bat only a "2".

[Buzz]

11. Pro's practicing range hitting.

[WalkingWicket37]

I can't believe altitude and wind speed/direction aren't mentioned... 

[sachin200]

^ Have you ever hit a ball with a bat that has a flexible/whippy handle?

Of course that it shouldn't be so whippet that it lags behind (flexes even before striking the ball). It shouldn't bend before striking but at the time of strike, if it is whippy, it doesn't matter. I have tried taking twine off my bats (replacing it by loosely bound zinc tape) & trust me it helps.

There was also a video of Robert Pack on YouTube teaching podshaving to high school kids, standing on his bat handles to show the flexibility/whip of the handles.

[sachin200]

I can't believe altitude and wind speed/direction aren't mentioned... 

Agree - they both matter and so does the speed of the ball faster it comes, the faster it will go by a bat wielded at the same speed.