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HISTORY OF THE CRICKET BAT

This super pair of plaques depict "The History of the Cricket Bat" from c. 1720 to 1930. The first plaque consists of a display of eight 1/7th scale replica cricket bats taken from the M.C.C. collection at Lord's Cricket Ground. The have been authentically executed, with great attention to detail and are captioned as follows at the bottom of the plaque:

EARLY CURVED BAT C.1720

CURVED BAT C.1750

EARLY STRAIGHT BAT C.1774

'LITTLE JOEY' C.1792

E. BAGOT 'SKYCRAPER' C.1793 (misprinted as ' SKYSCAPER' )

FULLER PILCH'S BAT C.1835

JACK HOBBS' BAT C.1930

Early Curved Bat -Circa 1720- Before 1750 the cricket ball was bowled underarm along the ground. The hockey stick curve of this early bat enables the batsman to scoop the ball of the ground with a variety of offensive rather than defensive strokes.

Curved bat Circa 1750- The bat is a further evolution of the crooked club, its blade having more wight at the base as a counter to the underarm bowling of the period. The first known issue of the laws of cricket had been drawn up in 1744, however there were rules governing the size and shape of bats (some weighed over 5 lbs) and most of them were made by their owners. A left handed player would shave (carve) his blade in the opposite direction to a right handed bat. The whole is made from a solid piece of timber, the handle bound with cord 37 1/2" long 4 " wide, 2 lbs, 5 oz

Early Straight bat-Circa 1774- By the mid 18th Century the bowler was allowed to lob the ball albeit still in an underarm fashion. This gave a greater advantage against eh cruved bat so a new revolutionary shame evolved to counter the bouncing lobs. The design of this straight 'shouldered' type was the precursor to the modern bat and its development can be largely ascribed to the player and bat maker John Small (1737-1826). Small innovation changed the face of cricket and a now defensive system of blocking or stopping was adapted. The 34" long, 4 1/2 " wide, 2 lb 13 oz.

Little Joey-Circa 1792- At a match between Hambledon and Chertsey in 1771 Thomas White of Reigate went into play with a bat that was wider than the wicket. To avoid such absurdities by 1771 a ruling was brought in limiting the bat's width to 4 1/2". Little Joey belonged to the Hambleyer Ringh whose style of play originated the leg before wicket (LBW) rule.

E. Bagot Skyscraper -Circa 1793- By the end of the 18th Century the experimental nature of cricket bat disgn had at last come to an end. However there were still no restrictions as to the length of the bat or its thickness at the base. Some bats of this type employed a backward curve to their face.

Fuller Pilch's Bat Circa 1840- In 1935, the MCC restricted the length of the bat to 38" and the solid one piece-plain match- bat illustrated here continued in use well into the 19th Century. It is probable, however, that Fuller Pitch (1830-1870) played with both the one piece and the newly developed spliced bat.

WG Grace's bat_Circa 1901- By 1830s that first 2 part spliced bat had begun to appear. It's invention was most likely born from the necessity of the Bat makers constantly having to repair handles broken off from solid one piece bats by splicing a new handle into the blade. This new development considerably reduced the 'sting' occasioned to batter's hands by the fast bowling of the likes of Alfred Mynn or William Lillywhite. By 1860 the first sprung bats began to appear. The grace bat illustrated here has a cane handle spliced into a willow blade.

Jack Hobb's bat-Circa 1930- The 20th Century example illustrated here belonged to Jack Hobbs who is considered to have belonged to Jack Hobbs who is considered to have been England's greatest-ever-batsman. It consists of a willow blade with a cane handle layered into thin strips of rubber, bound with twine, the whole handle is sheathed in rubber to absorb shock if any at the time of impact with a cricket ball. 33 1/2" long, 22" blade, 2 lbs 6 oz.

Dennis Lillee brought the introduction of aluminium bat but he was prevented from using it for a longer period. And during an IPL season Mathew Hayden brought a Mangoose bat. Thus the game of cricket is changing to faster pace and the quality of bats are improving day by day to make the game of cricket totally a power game.

C.K.Cricket KricketSubramaniam