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[slcric]

I heard something i have never knew today.I met a first class opening batsman and he said English willow bats has 3 rubber lines in the handle and if there are only 2 rubber lines then its a kashmir willow.Is this true?I was shocked to find out my bat was a kashmir willow when all along i thought its a G2 EW! arrrrgggghhhhh!

[johan95]

Seems a rather crude rule, but does seem to work. Could it not just be the handle? Batmakers, help please, when you guys are up

[Cover_Drive]

Well Screaming Cat and Laver & Wood use two rubbers handle on there bats and I can guarantee that they are not Kashmiri Willow.

Seems like that first class chap was out of his sense on New Years Eve

[slcric]

Well I can assure you that he knows what he's talking about as he is someone who has played with Sri Lankan internationals such as Sangakkara.MY Bat is a Puma ballistic.But puma and other brands such as black cat and laver wood are not available in Asian countries such as Sri Lanka.Only bats like SS,reebok,Malik and CA bats are in market.So he probably was talking about experience from those brands.

[yvk3103]

I heard something i have never knew today.I met a first class opening batsman and he said English willow bats has 3 rubber lines in the handle and if there are only 2 rubber lines then its a kashmir willow.Is this true?I was shocked to find out my bat was a kashmir willow when all along i thought its a G2 EW! arrrrgggghhhhh!

This is rubbish. your friend needs to learn more about the equipment he uses. The number of springs (rubber or rubber+cork mix strips) in a bat handle have no bearing on whetehr it is a KW or EW or the grading of the willow.

The springs are there only to absorb the shock/transfer of energy into the hands at the point of impact/contact between the bat blade and the ball.

Some bat makers give you the option of going for a 2 spring handle if you like a stiff handle or a 3 spring if you like a bit of flex.

If you friend's theory has to be considered as true then, given the fact that KW is harder than EW and therefore will transfer more shock/energy to the handle (and to finally to the batsman's hands), a KW bat should have 3 springs to absorb maximum shock.

Besides the shock abosrbing, the number of springs also determine whether the feel of the handle - a 2 spring handle will be stiffer than a 3 spring.

[Ryan]

well said yvk3103. hit the nail on the head!

[petehosk]

Just wanted to confirm that Yash is correct.
The type of willow has nothing to do with the handle. Saying that, the quality of handle can have a bearing on how well the bat performs!
But the number of rubber inserts does not signify what willow is used!

[jonpinson]

Although as others have said you cannot read anything into the quality of a bat based on the number of rubber strips alone, I have seen some budget models with only one strip. In my day most junior bats only had one too.

So I can almost see where your friend is coming from, there is an element of fact in what he says, but he is far from being right.

[slcric]

i guess asian brands tend to have that pattern?maybe thats why he said so!

[armie]

I have a pro's bat which seems to be totally destroyed. One can see bits of wood put back together at a couple of places. It was his favorite bat in playing days and as per his statement, he made 5 consecutive tons in a South African league tournament. It was definitely with dual spring rather then treble spring yet it is EW. Well would hav been dual spring since the rubber is long gone. So you can not hold that rule in all cases. Might be true with some manufacturers.

[alexrickyponting]

puma tend to use doublesprung handles aparently