: From willow to bamboo: Should cricket bats make the switch? #IndiaNEWS For nearly 200 years, willow has been the principal material used in the production of cricket bats. English white willow is particularly

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From willow to bamboo: Should cricket bats make the switch? #IndiaNEWS
For nearly 200 years, willow has been the principal material used in the production of cricket bats. English white willow is particularly sought after, famed for its aesthetically pleasing colour and grain structure as well as for its ideal combination of lightness and rigidity.But because willow takes a long time to mature, its supply is low and decreasing. High-quality willow takes close to 15 years to grow into a mature tree ready for use, and close to 25% of the harvest is turned into cheap firewood due to defects in the material.This supply challenge is exacerbated by the fact that the demand for cricket bats is increasing. There are good prospects of cricket being included in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and growth regions for the sport – such as China and Brazil – represent huge new markets for bats where willow isn’t typically grown.My recent study, undertaken with the help of my colleagues Ben Tinkler-Davies and Michael H Ramage, has identified and tested bamboo as an exciting alternative to willow bats. Grown widely in cricket’s emerging markets, bamboo is more sustainable and more eco-friendly than willow. And, after producing a prototype, we found bamboo bats could even be superior to traditional willow ones – helping players hit...Read more

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