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[Chompy9760]

In last night's Womens T20 WC qualifier, India were cruising towards a likely victory, with Harmanpreet Kaur 52 from 34, when her bat stuck in the pitch, and what should have been an easy 2, ended up costing her wicket.



It brings up a number of "what if" scenarios, which indeed could have seen other outcomes to this game and the final, but....
Would the result be different if her bat had a rounded toe and not a square(ish) toe with sharp edges???
There is certainly a trend towards squarer toes and sharper edges in bats these days, but do the upsides outweigh the downsides?
I only play on artificial wickets, so it's never a problem, but have any of you guys had this sort of thing happen?

[Jimbo]

I've seen a fairly spectacular example in a midweek friendly with a rather portly batsman near enough levering himself into the air on the end of his own bat handle. Aside all that, square toes feel so much more breakable for those of us who don't middle every ball.

[Buzz]

Another reason not to be a fan of square toes...

[MichaelM]

It has more to do with batter's technique, otherwise, most of Internationale and pros are using square toe bats.

[Jimbo]

It has more to do with batter's technique, otherwise, most of Internationale and pros are using square toe bats.

I don't think it has anything to do with their technique at all, would be surprised to hear a genuine explanation of that.

From all the marketing speak, square toes essentially give the optical illusion of a bigger bat, that's about it in terms of benefit.

[Chompy9760]

It has more to do with batter's technique, otherwise, most of Internationale and pros are using square toe bats.

Maybe.  She's sliding the bat in from outside the crease at a low angle - what's wrong with the technique?  I admit she was coasting in, but if the bat hadn't grabbed she was home by a mile.

[roskooo_99]

Totally agree. I'm not a fan of the square toe, mainly for this reason - running between the wickets. I also find a lot of feathering on the inside corner from hitting the ground and I feel the bat just looks a bit unfinished.
I have asked a few people who use square toes how they run their bat in and apprently you have to run it in face facing the ground as opposed to the edge.... most odd.
And as for toe guards, I borrowed  someone's round-toed bat that had one and my bat dug in too. So they're a big no no from me too.

[adb club cricketer]

Batters could slide bat using toe face instead of the edge, then wouldn't be any difference whether square toe or not. Sliding using the sharp side edge calls for trouble. However, I haven't thought about this until seeing this.
I personally prefer square toe as it makes my bat look and feel bigger/longer - I feel I have more area to hit the ball. The psychological feel/advantage is not to be underestimated.

[Chompy9760]

Yes, I guess any psychological advantage is always there, and this particular disadvantage only rears it's ugly head on rare occasions.  Saw a stat that it was 1727 days since the last time she was runout in 2018 (and that probably didn't involve the bat getting stuck), so the odds are pretty good - but what a rotten time for it to happen 

[adb club cricketer]

Also I feel Warner hasn't been as effective ever since forced to switch away from the giant Kaboom. Haven't pulled up exact stats for Warner pre and post Kaboom, but I remember he used to score tons of runs using Kaboom and not as many after that. I am sure he gets a bat today at same weight as his earlier Kaboom minus the edges so ping must be similar at least according to physics (edge size effect has been discussed a lot already i think). Makes me wonder if this this psychological thing may also be a point of difference for the pros, not just "the attention to tiniest detail" CBFers 

[Jimbo]

I mean, Warner has also got older and the eyes won't be what they were too.

[adb club cricketer]

I mean, Warner has also got older and the eyes won't be what they were too.

Yea, that could be a factor too

[langer17]

I think he is better suited to the one day stuff these days. Prior to the test summer he had a really good ODI series. I think he'll just be a ODI/T-20 style player soon.