Modern cricket bats: Willow's whisper of the powerful swish

Cricket has advanced in so many ways, but the equipment used by players has only seen minor changes.

- Amrit Mathur

Cricket has advanced in so many ways, but the equipment used by players has only seen minor changes. The bats Ranji and Bradman played with a hundred years ago are not fundamentally different from those used by Rohit or Bumrah.

Golf, tennis, and badminton equipment moved from wood to graphite to titanium, but bats have retained their character, shape, and look. The laws mandate bats are made only of willow and must comply with regulations on weight, length, width, and size of edges. Umpires check the bats of the incoming batters to ensure they don't hold an illegal advantage.

The cricket bat industry is not just interesting but unique. The best willow comes from England, and one supplier, JS Wright, has dominated the trade for almost 150 years. He produces and sells the best quality willow, sets the price, selects the buyers, and allocates quotas. All major bat manufacturers (Gray-Nicolls, Kookaburra, SG, SS) have to source the raw material from him.

The problem is, due to the supply-side constraint and shortage of quality willow, prices keep rising. With rapidly rising demand (mainly from India due to the IPL boom), the cost of top-end bats has gone up. Premium bats retail at £1,000-1,200 in England and over 1 lakh in India.