A highly over rated and over used word especially when there is a bat for sale.
Actually ive never seen a bat review where the bat didnt ping... but then who would admit to buying a plank
This is my view too - Ping is an imaginary phrase used to sell and market bats.
A good bat for one person maybe a plank for someone else. It comes down to timing - plus a bat might sound good with a mallet and with a ball be terrible.
I once shelled out £150 for a puma bat, used it in 2 or three games plus nets and thought it was terrible with no middle. I gave it to a mate who scored 150 with it and said it was the best bat he had ever used, so he pinched it (to be fair he is one of my oldest mates and I know where he lives!)
Ping? it is boll*cks. Can you time the ball with the bat, that is what matters.
Douglas Jardine doesn't mention "ping", nor does Don Bradman or Jack Hobbs, or for that matter Alex Stewart, Ali Brown or Graham Thorpe.
Barry Richards used the phrase "trampoline" to describe one of Hershall Gibbs' bats when he was trying it. The ball rebounded off the bat into a light and smashed it. That is the same Barry Richards who has terrible hair, but was arguably the greatest timer of a cricket ball of all time.