Detail-Guide-on-English-Willow-Cricket-Bat-Profile

A cricket bat is the leading equipment of a cricket game. It is made up of wooden pieces, and generally consists of two wooden pieces- a cane handle and a flat-fronted wooden blade willow. Most of the cricket bats are made from English willow.

The durability, balance, toughness, and shock-resistance will depend on the type of willow used in the cricket bat and their grain structure. The sportsperson who is looking for a quality bat always keeps his eyes on specific parameters, in which one of the essential parameters is the type of willow used in the bat. Generally, there are two types of willows used in the cricket bat, which are English willow and Kashmiri willow. The English willow bat is still the first choice of a sportsperson.

The English willow bats

English willow is a soft, fibrous timber by nature, which prepares a high-quality bat. The English Willow Bats ac are hand-made. The bats made from the English willow cleft are generally imported from the UK. They are used by the professional players to give the most excellent and high-level performance.

The English willow bat is generally lightweight. Usually, it consists of four to fourteen grains, which are strictly based upon the type of willow and the grades. It is processed with natural drying techniques to provide excellent performance. The English willow is used by many cricket bats manufacturing brands like Thrax, SG, SS, MRF bats, and lot more, which itself shows the importance of English willow in a cricket bat.

Gradings of the English willow bats

The difference in the willow grades specifies the quality of the willow. The English willow bats generally range from Grade 1 A+ to Grade 4. The structure of grain, bleaching, and discoloration create the main difference in the grades. The cricket bat consisting of any one of the grades is suitable for the game and high-level performance. Choosing the right grade bat will help in increasing the performance of the player.

Profiles of English willow cricket bat

Choosing the best shape of a cricket bat is tricky sometimes. Picking the right profile bat will define your game. The English willow bats are strictly hand-made, which adds ease in altering the profile of the bat according to the players need. Most of the bats come under the following profile categories.

Classic Profile

The classic profile bat has a traditional shape with long-standing. The classic profile bat serves you the benefit of a long-hitting zone from its high and long spine. This shape is ideal for those types of players who love to hit the ball from the gaps in the cricket fields. The classic profile of English willow bat can be made with any grading- say Grade 1(A) English willow bat.



The High profile with huge middle bow

The High-profile bat comes with a high sweet spot and a big middle bow. This profile bat is for a top-order batsman. The high profile bat is best suited with an oval-shaped handle. It is best suited for Back foot players.

The middle profile

The middle profile bats have middle to low sweet spot and a big low bow. This bat shape seems perfect for the front and back foot players of the middle order. The shape of the bat can be designed with any of the grades of English willow. It is perfect for the batsman having a height above 6 feet who inclines to attach the ball lower down on the bat.

The Low Profile

The low-profile bats have a short bow or even no bow and constitute a low, middle, and high sweet spot to hit the ball. The low-profile bat is perfect for the all-rounder cricketers who are in the lower order and middle order.

Extended Profile

The extended profile of the bat is an extended version of classic profile with long edges, spine sweeping into the toe of the bat, and a short spine that consents for a wider sweet spot to hit the ball. The extended profile is made in any type of English willow grades. It is ideal for the front foot batsman who would love to be on the front foot at a sudden and dominate the bowler on the pitch. The extended profile generates the modern shapes of the bats like Ultra and Mega shape.



Special Profile

The best thing about special profile bats is their unique weight distribution that allows powerful knocking zone and allows for unbelievable bat speed. This profile is typically ideal for the top-order batsman, which requires batting speed and proper balance for long innings. This profile can be manufactured with any of the English willow grades, which offers power to weight ratio.



Mega profile

The mega profile bats come with a large and powerful hitting zone and have incredible weight distribution. The shape proves to be ideal for the destructive players who always look for maximum wood in the blade. The mega profile bats generate the power to turn the one-bounce four into a six and also push the ball above the top of the infield. The grade 1 (A) English willow bat constitutes a mega profile.



Ultra-Profile

The ultra-profile bat constitutes a modern shape. It has a flat-front face and a huge raised edge, which is ideal for the destructive players who always look towards boundaries clearance. It is specially designed for big hitters who look for maximum wood in their sweet spot zone. The ultra-profile bats best match with the oval cane handle.



Bow Profile

It constitutes the thick edges, equal balance distribution, and has a low sweet spot. The curve made in the blade decreases the sweet spot size, and is best suited for the areal hit. This shape of the bat is the extended version of the mid-low profile and has an extended sweet spot to hit the ball in the air.



The English willow bat based upon the sweet spot and batting style

The shape of the English willow bat is uniquely designed for professional players. There is a sweet spot area in a bat that generates maximum ball timings. The location of the sweet spot is also determined by the shape and construction of the bat. For instance- the sweet spot is in lower-middle of the bat for a front-foot player, and it is in the higher-middle region of the bat for a back-foot player who seems ideal for pulls, cut, and knocking performance for both types of players.

The English willow bat, based upon the batting style and its sweet-spot position, is also of paramount importance for a player to enhance his performance.

The types of cane handle in English willow cricket bat

The cane handle of an English willow bat comes in different lengths and types like oval, thick, round, short, long, regular oval. The cane handle is designed differently according to the height of the players. The cane handle of an English willow bat is approximate 85 cm for a player having height 5ft 9 inches. But for a player having a height above 6 feet, it generally comes with oval shape, adding an extra inch in cane handle. The cane handle of the English willow bat is also fitted with rubber to provide comfortable gripping to the players. The cane handle is mounted in the willow in a triangular shape cut, which provides stability and firm gripping to the player.

The benefits received by the player from English willow bat profiles

The use of English willow bats by the players loads them with various type of benefits in which some of them are given below:

? The bats made from English willow are generally lightweight, which helps in holding the bat for the long run and provides better knocking performance.

? The English willow bats offer high-durable performance to the players.

? The cricket bats having English willow offer better thump, which helps in providing a maximum power of the shots to the players.

? The English willow cricket bats are specially designed for the players who love to directly hit the ball.

? The English willow bats are quite springy and suited best for the players that want a severe competition in the game.

? The cricket bats that are made with English willow help in improving the game of the players.

However, the English willow bats are uniquely designed to improvise the performance of the players. The players who start their game with an English willow bat would never come with the thought of using another willow in the future. The English willow grading provides extra durability, quality, and knocking performance, which seems to be a game-changer for all the professional players. The soft timber and the natural drying process with bleaching add extra durability in the willow of the bat. They are always the first choice of international players.