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[ppccopener]

Well I confess, I'm not a bat-blamer....you know, a few low scores and bin the grade 1 for another grade 1 on the basis it's not getting any runs...but I do 'fiddle around with things a bit here and there'

Your either reading this thinking...ah...I know what he means...or...you just pick up any old weight and do well. I guess there always will be two camps 

Anyway not been a great first half of the season so picked up a cheapest lighter bat, about 2-3 oz's lighter than last weeks one and guess what? Stance seems better, more upright, the bat feels better being lighter, and I've started to time a few out of the middle. I generally face a newish ball and a slightly higher middle appears to be working.

So first half of the season I pushed it to use as heavy as I could, second half the complete opposite...

But is it all in the mind I wonder because I can use something heavier and still play with it?

Apologies if this same subject has been posted before and boredom has already kicked in 

I never get bored of talking bats and technique...and most important - how to get as many runs as you can

[trypewriter]

I think it makes a difference. I've never subscribed to the 2-12 but feels like 2-9 on pick up argument. 2-12 is exactly what it says on the tin. There are so many shots that are not straight pendulum strokes that dead weight just has to be an issue.

[Alvaro]

Amen Trype

[joeljonno]

There is definitely something to it, habit and what you're used to.

Last season I went down to a 2:7 from 2:10 and whilst I did ok, I never felt in control. Went back to a 2:10 this season and everything flows better.

[InternalTraining]

I have a great 2-9.5 bat. I recently took to the nets to try it out and missed my straight drives by miles - bat swinging way ahead of the ball. No issue with my heavier bat.

It takes trial-and-error to find your optimum bat weight. You don't want something that is too light and your swing is too fast to connect with the ball; you also don't want a bat where you are too late in your shots and can use it for a long period of time.

[JK Lewis]

I tend to use a 2.10ish bat, but I did try out with a 2.7 last year. Trouble was, anywhere outside the middle of the middle, just felt dead. Maybe it was a duff bat, maybe it was in my head, but it didn't work for me. Having said that, the old timers rarely used anything as heavy as a 2.7 even, and they did OK.

[Northern monkey]

You know my thoughts on this, dead weight is dead weight
I'll agree some pick up better, but it still has to be put into a position to play a shot
Depending on fitness/strength etc, there's an optimum bat weight for you

And yes there's loads of superstars out there that can move between extremes in weights etc and still score loads
But I'm not one of them , and need all the help I can get in scoring runs

And that to me, is getting the bat in line, and or position, and generating the bat speed to hit through the ball
At my age now, and lack of strength, I'm down to 2.7
In my twenties I could comfortably use a 3lb bat

[trypewriter]

You know my thoughts on this, dead weight is dead weight
I'll agree some pick up better, but it still has to be put into a position to play a shot
Depending on fitness/strength etc, there's an optimum bat weight for you

And yes there's loads of superstars out there that can move between extremes in weights etc and still score loads
But I'm not one of them , and need all the help I can get in scoring runs

And that to me, is getting the bat in line, and or position, and generating the bat speed to hit through the ball
At my age now, and lack of strength, I'm down to 2.7
In my twenties I could comfortably use a 3lb bat

Agree with this - and yes, back in the day I used 3lb. I've tried 2-7 but couldn't get it off the square. 2-9 seems about right for me these days.

[Boondougal]

I have done exactly this in the last month. Dropped from 2'10 down to 2'8. I just wanted to make sure i had the bat speed and control in order to start getting my technique back again.

It worked a treat for me, I would normally subscribe too the placebo effect of a new bat etc etc but too be honest this bat did not "feel" as nice in my hands as my favourite but heavier bat, but it went "ok" out of the middle and more importantly I could get bat on ball with it. This weekend I went back to my favourite bat. the bowling looked slower and the pitch had no pace in it so I thought the additional weight wouldn't be an issue.. and guess what. It wasn't... struck the ball nicely. the weight issue came in the form of me, being too fat to run the quick single in time. So much of it is confidence but confidence can be gained in many ways.

[Gurujames]

It is totally upto the individual. I have used 5 of my 11 bats so far this season. They vary in weight from 2lb 6oz to 2lb 14oz. I have not noticed any timing issues when using any of them and I was able to play a full range of shots with all of them.
I have scored runs with them all and had a couple of failures with 2 of them.

[Seniorplayer]

Well I confess, I'm not a bat-blamer....you know, a few low scores and bin the grade 1 for another grade 1 on the basis it's not getting any runs...but I do 'fiddle around with things a bit here and there'

Your either reading this thinking...ah...I know what he means...or...you just pick up any old weight and do well. I guess there always will be two camps 

Anyway not been a great first half of the season so picked up a cheapest lighter bat, about 2-3 oz's lighter than last weeks one and guess what? Stance seems better, more upright, the bat feels better being lighter, and I've started to time a few out of the middle. I generally face a newish ball and a slightly higher middle appears to be working.

So first half of the season I pushed it to use as heavy as I could, second half the complete opposite...

But is it all in the mind I wonder because I can use something heavier and still play with it?

Apologies if this same subject has been posted before and boredom has already kicked in 

I never get bored of talking bats and technique...and most important - how to get as many runs as you can

Makes perfect sense to me as an opener against the new ball you need the lighter bat speed and the high middle my bats a 2lb 6 ounce with an inch shorter blade.
Also a young west Indian player came to a UK County with his 2lb 12 ounce  bat did nothing special he was advised to try a 2lb 9 ounce with this weight  he scored  county crickets best individual score and the  test match  record individual score

[WalkingWicket37]

Makes perfect sense to me as an opener against the new ball you need the lighter bat speed and the high middle my bats a 2lb 6 ounce with an inch shorter blade.
Also a young west Indian player came to a UK County with his 2lb 12 ounce  bat did nothing special he was advised to try a 2lb 9 ounce with this weight  he scored  county crickets best individual score and the  test match  record individual score

He'd only scored 277 against Australia at the SCG before that point, totally hopeless...

[Buzz]

Find something that works for you and gives you confidence then go for it.

Everything else is irrelevant.

I have found a weight of bat that works for me, I would rather use something a bit lighter, but my record with a 2-11 bat is better by miles than with a bat of any other weight.

[addu84]

I found myself in a similar but totally opposite situation. I like to play with heavy bats. Practice with a 3.2 Monster during winter nets and play games with bats c. 2.12 - 2.14 lbs in weight. I was tempted to test something lighter as I felt it will open a new 'dimension' to my game (don't we all think that :p).

Frankly, I was too early in all my shots and gave up that idea right after one game. What I do do now is make sure to have a bat with my chosen match bat on the day of the game. I feel that makes all the difference. Best of luck !

[edge]

I've been considering bat changes lately, as I've been feeling in decent nick all this season and very comfortable with the bowling I'm facing... but haven't managed to make too many actual runs. As we all know, lack of runs is best cured by a new bat! Then it occurred to me earlier today that as much as I love my match bat, I've not made better than a couple of 40s with it in the last season and a half - all my decent scores last year came when I was using different bats for one reason or another.

Going to go for it and try a change for this weekend I think. Either a new stick (as I've got a couple ready to go) or my previous match bat, which as it happens is lighter, but will also need quite a lot of tlc as it's cracked up from scoring lots of runs... Funny how we decide to change these things isn't it!