Any batsman worth their salt prides their bat of choice somewhat like a family heirloom. If your child is getting into cricket, is enthusiastic and wants to take this sport further - then you really must invest in a decent factory stress tested bat that has some genuine meat on it. Get yourself to a decent shop or buy a vintage bat!
There is no point on relying on those all-in-one cricket sets that you can pick up for under £20 at the high street sports shops. (You know the one's that contain 2 x cheaply made cricket bats, and 2 x sets of wickets etc) They last 10 minutes, even if the bats are not manufactured from balsa wood. You may as well get a set of plastic bats for what it's worth! I remember taking one of these cheap bats into the nets - my mate was a fast bowler - abnormally fast for his age in the u11's he was bowling at 90mph - which to be honest as a u11 batsman on the receiving end made it quite embarrassing to be dressed all in whites. Anyway on this one occasion I managed to get a proper connection with a poll shot. Get in! Amidst a few flying splinters and a spinning bat blade in the slips face I discovered my new cricket bat purchase had cunningly transformed itself into a relay baton! After discovering this I ran as fast as I could down the wicket avoiding the pigeons and likely foes stopping only to shake the intense vibrations that shock-waved through my hands and fingers. It was agony! That's the thing about batting with poor quality cricket bats - even if you're wearing gloves these bats create vibrations that wreck your hands. It doesn't seem to matter how many hours you spend trying to season the bat blade - there is just no way that lump of carved cack is going to get meaty - you need something decent, something tried, tested and born to hit a cricket ball, something like these Kookaburra cricket bats, or even a Warrior! These will meat up in no time!
I went to school with Liam Botham, and it's no surprise that in his pre-teen days he was a formidable player.
Check this out: (although it does not really look like him in the video for some reason??)
This looks more like him!
Anyway, when he hit a ball you could hear the difference between his bat and the standard cricket bats that were supplied for all by the school. His bat (no surprises again) was a few generations old - given to him by his dad. Cricket balls bounced and soared off this chunky bat. You can always tell when a bat is meaty and worth it just by the noise it makes. The higher the pitch upon impact the younger and less tuned it is for any batsmans performance, but if you find a bat that produces a really deep, raw, wholesome resonance akin to a Tibetan gong then you know you're going to score a few sixers with this beast!
