Of willows and the so called...
May 13th 2009 14:24
For people who do not know me, I am besotted with the game cricket. Have been so for as long as I can remember. That goes for watching or playing the game or ruminating on it or discussing it.
My active cricket playing days probably started when I was probably 7 or 8. Those days diversity was the name of the game. We used to play with plastic, rubber, rubber cork, tennis, cricket tennis (yes there is a difference - cricket tennis balls bounce less), cork and cricket balls. Whatever we could lay our hands on. Our bats could be anything from an examination pad to the bat-like stick that one uses in Tamil Nadu to hit clothes while washing. The English willow bat was something which I had no clue about until I was doing my graduation.
During high school and higher secondary school days we used to play cricket - even with the hard leather or cork ball without wearing pads or any abdominal guards - leave alone helmets or other safety implements. No, I am not proud of this. Thinking back, I keep imagining the horrors that could have visited me if the ball were to have moved an inch more this side or that, up or down. But all is well that ends well. And it all becomes better when you consider that my love affair with cricket has not ended - touch wood!
And as for quality of bats - we used to pick up whatever was available in the college or school - half broken, no grains, Kashmir willow, basically whatever. And we used to make use of it as best as we knew how to. So, that leads me to the subject of me now having become a bat-maniac. These days I cannot seem to resist a lovely looking English willow bat. The only thing that seems fair is my wife's statement that the owner of the sports shop which I frequent is a lucky man. Well, that he is!
In the past 3 to 4 years I have had the privilege and pleasure of owning 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade willow bats (And no, 3rd grade English willow is not bad) from various makes. Laver and Wood say that a proper seasoned bat has to last a 1000 runs! Now, when I tell you that I have never had a bat which has lasted a 1000 runs, it might sound interesting. But then I have to break down and tell you the truth that I am not sure if I have scored a 1000 runs in my lifetime! But hey, I still manage to break bats. The best I have seen of a bat is that it lasts me a couple of seasons. Considering that we probably play only one match a week even in middle of the season, it is probably about par.
Some of the bats that have given me immense pleasure are the BDM Titanium (1st Grade), SG Cobra (1st Grade) and a few BAS Vampire bats. And how could I forget my first English willow bat - an RNS bought 12 years back! That it is still in usable condition never ceases to amaze me. A BDM Tornado comes next in the list of bats with the longest staying power - its been there with my team for over 4 years now. 4 years of hard use - all the hitters in our team use it! Thats no mean feat to achieve. These bats have taken the concept of personal bats to the next level - for me at least. Nowadays I cannot bring myself to share my bat with others. That is strange considering that I have been borrowing bats from all and sundry practically all through my youth!
A couple of months back - yet another bat fetish took hold of me and I went to the sports shop. Lucky guy that he is, he told me he had new arrivals. GM bats. Gunn and Moore that is. I always did fancy that brand, I told him. And what brand does he not, whispered my wife. Well, I hefted the GM Catalyst bats and was shocked to see that these bats go through a factory knocking in procedure. Whether they accomplish this during the process of bat pressing, one is not too sure. But when I pinged the ball off the bat to test the bat, it definitely did not sound or strike like a new bat. It was almost as good as the well compressed, springy wood of a seasoned bat. Much to my shock, really. I bought the cheapest of the GM Catalyst range GM303 and after some seasoning put it to use. While I got out for nought in the first match, there was nothing much the bat could do to prevent it. I then got a 30 odd in the next game. Hitting with the bat gave me almost orgasmic pleasure! Such was the sound and weight of the bat. And this when buying the lowliest of the Catalyst series of GM.
This was also a sort of wake up call for me in terms of not necessarily having to buy a first grade willow all the time. At least not for the level I play in. And definitely not for the level of batsmanship I exhibit. A good English willow should do the trick - never mind the grade.
But well, when some bugs bite you, there is nothing you can do about it. A friend then resolved that the best way to give me a gift was to buy a bat for me! And he chose no one but Slazenger - that hallowed Australian brand of sports gear manufacturer! Can you believe that the same sports shop guy who sold me the GM Catalyst about 3 weeks back was again smiling beatifically holding a half a dozen Slazenger Pure Blades?
The Slazenger Pure Blade Elite Pro - that is the bat I got - is a different beast. The shop owner says that that is the bat used by Micheal Clarke, Jacques Kallis and others. Well, if it is good enough for them, that ought to be good enough for me, I thought. This one too was factory knocked in, it had certain unique 'features' (a few years back, I would have laughed at somebody saying that a bat has features) - like the bow (a curve) that starts at about 6-8 inches off the shoulder of the bat and the uniquely curved handle and matching grip. And man, this bat has a wicket curve on it - you can scarcely make out the toe if you are holding the bat in the air in front of you - bat toe pointing away from you and bat face pointing downwards. This though was not something unique. The GM Catalyst too had a fairly wicked curve. What it did not have was the first grade willow which the Slazenger had - not to mention the excellent weight balance and pickup.
Long story short, I got the bat and it is still being knocked in. Yes, Slazenger does advise a bit of knocking in even though it has been knocked in at the factory. Its been more than 3 weeks now and the oiling and seasoning is still going on. Yes, its a nuisance to all the family members to hear me knocking at the bat with a mallet continuously. But it is immensely satisfying to see the progress in terms of compression and shaping. The edges are now smooth and the bat face has been sufficiently compressed. What is left is to use it in a match situation now. I am not holding my breath. Because I am pretty sure that this is the best bat I have ever had - by some margin.
Lastly, these willows which move me - which make me look at the wood in awe when a well timed shot simply springs off to the boundary, there are probably many reasons why they give me close to orgasmic pleasure. Weight, balance, power, springiness, pickup etc. Its difficult to pin point any specific element among these characteristics and say that this is what makes this bat special. Special enough to develop an emotional attachment. What sort of attachment are we talking about? One can even call it symbiotic. When one ball strikes the sweetest spot of the bat and leaves the field standing as they were when the bowler delivered the ball, while you score a boundary - that gives you confidence. The marauding confidence that today is your day and that no bowler can take you out. That is what a bat does. But is that all? Is just striking the ball with the middle of the bat the reason why batting becomes so addictive that you see people playing at all levels of the game doing some shadow batting? No. In my opinion the single biggest reason for a batsman to develop an attachment with a bat is the fact that over time he finds no difference between the bat and the rest of his bodily appendages. The bat just becomes an extension of his body. It is not something alien and there is nothing awkward in holding and wielding it - even through the gloves. That is what gives me such a high. Very few bats do it. And even the bats that do it - don't last forever.
So, there guys is the transitional story of somebody who moved on from using any kind of bat-shaped implement to play the game he loves to preferring particular bat shapes and weights and preferring particular brands even. It takes a moment of thought to realize this though. Thought I would share this with you all.
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