Tax havens and timber shortages
Cricket’s answer to emergent problems caused by climate, willow shortage and the MCC’s rules
Earlier this week, David Warner was dismissed by countryman Ben Manenti in a T10 tournament in the Cayman Islands.
One of the league’s marquee signings, Warner will occupy a spot at the top of the order for the Boca Raton Trailblazers for the duration of the eight-day tournament.
Before you stop reading, this is not another story decrying that “this is what cricket has come to.” Instead, it is recognition that a commercial eight-day tournament set in a tax haven is precisely where the game is going. That irrespective of what the purists, traditionalists and other stuffy cricket types might like, the game always has evolved, and will continue to do so.
Nowhere is this more evident than the cricket bat itself.
From the 1720’s when the first bats more closely resembled a hockey stick, to the early part of the nineteenth century when they were amended to combat overarm bowling, master craftsmen have always sought to create an instrument that is lightweight, powerful and durable.
From the Scoop and the Mongoose, to those made from aluminium and even some with carbon fibre on the back, the cricket bat has become a tool for experimentation and innovation.
God forbid they let the next generation STEM types take over the game, the MCC brought in a pair of rules to limit further development:
5.2.1: The handle is to be made principally of cane/ wood
5.3.2: The blade shall consist solely of wood
Unperturbed, bat-makers figured that – using the low-density, high-stiffness sapwood of Salix Alba (English Willow) - they could continue innovating with the size of their bats; making giant blades that still conformed to the rules.
Then came the MCC again, turning their attention to the railway sleepers that were now gracing cricket grounds the world over:
“To redress the imbalance between bat and ball... maximum dimensions of 108mm in width, 67mm in depth and 40mm in edges.”
At the leading edge of cricket’s brave new world in the Cayman Islands today, Warner’s T20 bat at the time was banned; the maximum depth exceeding the new rules by 18mm...
But now, the industry is facing a different kind of problem.
Time-consuming, wasteful and now feeling the pinch of the emergent climate crisis, willow farming is becoming less and less viable – both in England and the Indian occupied region of Kashmir. As a consequence, there is a global shortage of the low-density willow preferred by batters the world over.
In England, willow takes up to 15 years to mature to be suitable for use in bats. Even then, only 70% of the wood sourced is useable, making the process both expensive and unsustainable.
In Kashmir, where the bat-making industry employs more than 100,000 people, the climate crisis is making it challenging to continue to produce Kashmir Willow, as farmers are turning to more lucrative crops, and those resilient to a changing climate – largely poplar trees to sell for plywood.
As ever in cricket, bat-makers have answered the call, seeking to make use of different (see heavier, denser) timbers, while keeping them playable, light and conforming to MCC rules.
The solution?
“You put a hole inside the damned thing.”
That is how Paul Jenkins, Head of Fundamental Technologies at Gray Nicolls described their latest innovation, Neocore.
The newest range of bats that GN have developed, Neocore is essentially an internal scoop in the area where the handle meets the blade of the bat. By removing wood internally, GN have found a way to use heavier wood, and make bats the retain the weight range, pick-up and performance of their lighter-density counter parts.
“This way, we are using a lot more of the wood that deserves to find its way into the hands of players,” Jenkins says.
“From a sustainability side of things, as well as cricket performance it is a good thing.”
Now using the previously discarded 30% of dense, naturally occurring wood that is produced as part of the English Willow growing process, GN are creating a long-term solution to one of the industry’s most pressing problems.
“Our conversations started at a Board level,” Jenkins explains. “It was about management of stock and how we could continue to offer a retail product that looks, feels and plays like what the customer knows.”
GN bat-maker Alex Hohenkerk echoes the sentiment.
“The denser wood has always been there, there is no way to control that – we just needed to find a way to use it.
“That answer is Neocore.”
Designed to conform to the MCC rules as well, the Neocore range meets the barrier of a wooden (cane) handle, fitting into a wooden blade.
“There are no rules about what that needs to look like, our join mechanism is absolutely valid,” Jenkins says.
Elsewhere, researchers at the University of Cambridge are turning to grass. Not in the hope of finding greater clarity to come up with a solution – but as the solution itself!
Grown in plentiful supply (and famously quickly) in China, Southeast Asia and South America, the bamboo also matures quickly, meaning it will be ready for use up to twice as quickly as traditional alternatives.
According to the study, bats made from bamboo would also be stronger, lighter and even boast a bigger and more durable sweet-spot than willow, making it preferable both for the planet and the player.
Still outlawed due to the MCC’s requirement that the blade must consist solely of wood, bamboo bats might still be a while away.
Out of the picture entirely? Probably not, because if cricket has proved anything to us of late, it’s that the game is not afraid to innovate.
David Warner’s next match for the Trailblazers is against the New York Strikers.