Mastering the bat in cricket is one of the toughest tasks. Even players well-versed in the batting skill find it difficult to keep up their form. So, the importance of batting is well-known in the game of cricket. At the same time, it is important to choose the best equipment for it.
You can be a great player, but without a good quality bat, you cannot play the ball as per your aim. One of the crucial factors that decide the bat’s quality is the number of grains. The grains show you the age of the wood and its strength.
Therefore, in this article, we shall discuss all the grains on a cricket bat, how many of them define a good quality bat, and their types.
How many grains are good on a Cricket Bat?
The minimum number of grains that are best for the game is to have at least 6 grains on a cricket bat. Having more than 6 is desired but not more than a maximum of 12 grains is preferred. You must know what those grains indicate and how the quality of the bat depends on it.
Grains on a Cricket Bat
If you look at a cricket bat, you can witness some lines on the face. These lines are called the grains and these represent the number of years the tree has grown. Each line represents one year of growth. So, if a bat has six lines, it means that it was made from a tree with a growth of six years.
It is a common misconception that more grains mean better bat quality. But this is not the case all the time. It is better to have grains in the range of 6 to 9 and not more than that. Because the more years the tree takes to grow, the structure and hardness may increase considerably. If you get a bat with more than 12 grains, it means that the tree has grown more than 12 years and might have a hard, sturdy structure.
Therefore, it is advisable to get cricket bats in the range of 6 to 9 grains according to the grade of the wood. Yes, the grade of the wood also plays an important role. You have to know the types of wood used in the manufacture of cricket bats to understand that concept.
Cricket Bat Woods
Cricket bats are made from trees known as Willow. There are two major species in the Willow tree, one from England called the English Willow, and one from Kashmir known as the Kashmir Willow. English Willow bats are preferred more than Kashmir Willows due to their lightweight, better response to the ball, and higher durability.
It is important to mention the Willows because of their widespread usage in the game. There is a possibility for both the English and Kashmir Willows to have higher or lower grains. But other factors like Hardness, Structure, Density, and durability can vary between the woods.
So, whatever willow you may choose, the number of grains should not be more than 12 at the maximum level and the optimal range is around 6 to 9 grains.
Types of Grains in Cricket Bat
As for the types of grains on a cricket bat, you can have Wider Grains and Narrow Grains. Let us discuss in detail why this variation in the grains occurs and what are its effects.
Wide Grains
If you see a bat with wide grains, you can conclude that the tree has grown faster and the structure of the wood is very loosely packed.
Due to reasons like unfavorable weather conditions or improper availability of sunlight, the trees may grow taller in a very short time. Therefore, it will not have a larger girth, and such trees are usually slender.
When you cross-section the wood, you can find the annular rings to be few in number. This will indicate that the tree has reached a tall growth within a short duration. Such wood will be very soft and will have high water content too. This is the case of wide grains on a bat and lets us now see about Narrow grains.
Narrow Grains
Narrow grains indicate that the tree has taken time to develop and grow. You can find such trees to be wider in girth and will have a humongous structure. Whenever there are ample resources and a perfect environment for the trees to grow, you can find them to be growing gradually with utmost strength and durability.
If you cross-section the wood, you can find the annular rings to be more and it will be tough to use a saw machine on the tree too. Tighter grains also show us that the structure is very dense and compact leading to a harder wood.
Wide vs Narrow Grain Cricket Bat
After checking the number of grains on the bat, it is also important to check the gap between them. It is always recommended to choose a bat with a moderate gap between the grains. That means, you shouldn’t choose a bat that has densely packed grains and you shouldn’t choose one with very wide gaps. Try to get a bat with medium-spaced grains with some loose arrangement between them.
Because densely packed grains indicate a hard bat which has the danger of being more brittle and leads to frequent fractures. At the same time, too much width between grains indicates a very soft bat which requires severe knocking before putting it to use.
But, if you choose to get one with medium-spaced grains, it will provide you with optimum hardness and durability. You will have the softness required for proper force execution and the hardness to withstand severe blows to the ball.
Conclusion
We now have understood the importance of grains on a bat and what is their influence on the game. This will help you to choose the perfect cricket bat for your next game. Whatever the bat may be, it is better to do some knocking to season the bat for your stunning game.
