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What, exactly, is the difference between a $70 bat and a $700 one?

T

TLBcricket

Cricket Spectator
Some cheaper bats may perform as well but a lower percentage will.

SLA if you post some pictures of your cheap and expensive bat I am 99% sure I will be able to spot the differences.

Top range EW has no blemishes, ruler straight grains that are evenly spaced and no butterfly knots or staining etc. Lower grade bats will have the previously mentioned issues, but may perform as well EVENTUALLY. They will take time to 'open up' and play well, whereas a grade one won't take as much time.

Higher graded bats are not pressed less, they are pressed better and each cleft is pressed according to the individual needs, as no two clefts are the same.

If you are scoring around 600-800 runs a season plus practices etc etc then you are looking at one seasons use maybe two. For £150 I think that represents good value for money if you are playing at a reasonably high league level.
 
S

SLA

Cricket Spectator
Sla

What do you make of this article?

Choosing a Cricket Bat: Peformance vs. Endurance | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips

It seems accurate enough to me; I think there is a pay off, pros can quite easily get through 5-6 bats a season because they're sponsored, most people can't afford that.

At an amateur level, I'm looking to get minimum 2000 runs out of a £80-100 cricket bat. Thats 2-3 seasons.

I made the mistake in the past of buying the hype and bought a series of £120-150 bats. None of them lasted for 2000 runs, some of them didn't even make 1000.

A few years ago after my latest £150 down the drain I bought a very carefully selected £80 bat with an artificial cover. It plays just as nicely as any bat I've had, and we're on 2000 runs and going strong.
 
T

TLBcricket

Cricket Spectator
Yes the article is quite accurate.

However we sell our G1 bats for only £130 at the moment and I have been using mine for 2 seasons now. I don't make huge runs but I always use it for practices etc etc.

I think you have to find a balance between endurance and performance. I would say 8 grains would be a happy medium. But more importantly you are looking for clean playing faces without any marks, or stains.

However some batmakers believe the complete opposite. Take some time to have a look at Vulcan Cricket's Butterfly Bat.
 
BulkBogan

BulkBogan

Cricket Spectator
I've always wondered how much further I could hit the ball if I was using an international batsman's blade...reckon the ball would surely go 10-15% further than my $300 bat.
 
A

akkers

Cricket Spectator
We get a lot of cheap Indian junior bats here in the UK (RNS etc). You can buy them for £40-80 from local independent shops. They have a great middle/ping but they tend to last only about one season. I am told they are pressed less so they generate more ping. But because of the softness they crack easily hence they last for a short period. I guess its ideal for juniors as they would be growing and changing bats regularly anyway.

For bats in general it is difficult to define the quality of the ping and it all depends on how the batsman plays his shots. After all its the batsman that makes the runs, not the bat. However, I was working with a big-hitting teenager who had a £70 Harrow bat which had a great middle- it was the best bat he had ever had. He was doing really well at junior cricket hitting many a boundaries, However, when he played on a saturday with seniors, and bigger boundaries, he just could not get the ball away as much; he was being caught at mid-off, long off etc.
The following season his father splashed out and bought him a harrow £180 bat. To us all it just had the same middle/ping as the last bat and we could not see the benefit of the extra money spent. But we were proved wrong 2-3 matches into the season. When he got used to the bat he started to hit boundaries with less effort and more timing. In senior games, when he went to hit a six, he actually hit it out of the park. He was no longer being caught at mid-off and long-off. But the main thing I noticed was that he was driving/pulling the miles for 'miles' effortlessly; there was no slogging or heaving trying to hit boundaries. I have never seen a better partnership between a batsman and a bat.
 
A

akkers

Cricket Spectator
Bigger sweet spot

One thing the youngster has pointed out to me is that he feels the sweet spot is much much bigger on his new bat. Hence more of his shots were going further.
 
wiff

wiff

First Class Debutant
When I was young I used to dream of a $70 bat. I used to use a fence paling and carve the handle out.
 
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