In my opinion smaller bat makers don't have the drying capacity like bigger manufacturers do, especially in the UK and they can't make decent spec bats in a large volume. Yes cheaper handles and a bit of narrowing is common these days but Keeley does narrowing on international player bats too, so i don't think its a huge deal. Most people on here, and in general don't have the patience or time for a small harder pressed bat to open up taking months. Imagine having to face 2000+ balls to open up a bat and get it close to match ready. Players who are playing longer formats, I suppose they don't necessarily need a 'big' bat because there's no need to score runs at 130+ SR but majority are playing shorter formats and prefer the bigger bats and the confidence it brings. If bigger bats didn't have an advantage(to a certain extent of course) you wouldn't see almost all top players using max spec bats.
Interesting. Who are you talking about
@Ajdal when you mention drying capacity? Are you saying GM, GN, Keeley are drying willow out more than others as they have the ability to do so? Most smaller makers as you say won't have drying facilities, but the willow they receive will be dried to an industry standard by the willow supplier generally?
In terms of your point on the Pro's. Give me a gauge filler and a central contract then! 😆 Joking aside, I agree it maybe a visual thing obviously to breed confidence. However, imo the big difference between the pro's and us is more on talent, ability, skillset, practice, strength and conditioning rather than the bats. Certainly that's the view of the ones I've spoken with. The game and there players have changed, but people were still hitting bombs with toothpicks back in the day.
The guy who hits the biggest and and more consistently at my club used to use a 30mm edge bat which was 2lbs 7oz and hit it a long way. He bought a bat from me at the start of last season too, hit a ton with it in 40 odd balls within the first month of having it. Some huge hits too. Not sure he'd faced 2000 balls before then or not, but highly doubt it. I used a few brands before i started making my own and never found any bst ever needed that amount of time personally, but that's just my experience. I appreciate everyone is different.
I just worry as
@Jimbo mentioned, that there is this throw away mentality in society maybe. Which you'd think isn't sustainable long term, environmentally or economically. Unless we find an alternative raw material, then cricket bats will change beyond what we know now completely.
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Topic: Modern trends, pro's, cons and where it's going next? (Read 4803 times)