The psychology of bat-making
October 9, 2014 5:48 AM   Subscribe

The judgement of these clefts is the bat-maker's primary skill. They lie in their thousands in the drying shed, awaiting a grade that will decide their fate. Gray-Nicolls makes 60,000 cricket bats per year. Most of those are shaped in India, where bat-makers are more plentiful and demand can be met. The bulk of the clefts will be judged good enough to produce the bats that club cricketers buy (or at least the bats that they should buy), and they will be packed and shipped to the subcontinent and Australia, where Gray-Nicolls has a parallel operation. Some will come back once they are finished, others will journey onwards around the world to wherever the game is played. These few English fields and farms must support them all.

By Jon Hotten, who also writes The Old Batsman.
posted by smcg (15 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is why MetaFilter. Thank you.
posted by infini at 6:02 AM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


They lie in their thousands in the drying shed, awaiting a grade that will decide their fate.
Apparently I am slow this morning but relieved to read following sentence and discover these bats had always been inanimate.
posted by feral_goldfish at 7:21 AM on October 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


Wow. There's an entire ESPN for cricket....
posted by schmod at 7:55 AM on October 9, 2014


I'm sorry, I don't normally like thread-sitting, but I couldn't let that slide. CricInfo has existed for over 20 years - more than half of those without ESPN's involvement. It started out as an IRC bot, for crying out loud. Once, someone posted just the main page of the site here! There is not 'an entire ESPN for cricket' - ESPN bought the world's biggest cricket news site, a site that for years was one of the best volunteer-run efforts on the internet.
posted by smcg at 8:10 AM on October 9, 2014 [9 favorites]


I remember the first time I saw CricInfo, as a standalone website... I think I was peering over Dad's shoulder or was it a professor in college who hurriedly shut it down? Easily 15 years ago.
posted by infini at 8:50 AM on October 9, 2014


Yes. The art of following text cricket commentary on the sly via Cricinfo, something that millions across the Anglosphere and beyond can relate to. I've been doing it since 1997. And for many of us, it's pretty much the only freely available live portal left for games in progress, now that TV coverage everywhere has retreated behind the paywall of Sky TV.

As an added side-note on bat-making and its mysteries, here's what sometimes happens when those cricket bats have to go through American customs.
posted by Sonny Jim at 9:13 AM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


This is why MetaFilter. Thank you.

Came here to post this.
posted by cthuljew at 9:17 AM on October 9, 2014


Is this where I get to tell the story again of how I built a 31 foot cricket bat for Coca Cola?

*buys everyone a round of beer to make up for the ramble*
posted by infini at 9:29 AM on October 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


Wow. There's an entire ESPN for cricket....

Unsure why that is a surprise. Cricket is played in many countries to differing degrees, and in some - notably ex- British commonwealth countries such as India (pop. 1.2 billion) it's kinda massive.

If you've ever been to an India vs Pakistan match when Sachin has come out to bat then ... yeah, your calibration of what sport is gets recalibrated. Once your hearing returns, you realize that everything else is, well, niche.
posted by Wordshore at 9:29 AM on October 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


Ah sadly, I came here hoping this was some sort of post about the Louisville Slugger factory. It's kind of a fun tour and you know in my home town. I guess that whole mind-boggling world popularity thing is nice too though...
posted by BeReasonable at 10:00 AM on October 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


Hrm. I wonder why cricket bats are willow while baseball bats are usually ash.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:21 AM on October 9, 2014


Wow. There's an entire ESPN for cricket....

Only because it was a victim of the Wisden fire sale. Thank GOD ESPN didn't get their hands on Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. If you think it's amazing there's "an ESPN for cricket" your mind will be blown by Wisden's.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:39 AM on October 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


Yes. The art of following text cricket commentary on the sly via Cricinfo, something that millions across the Anglosphere and beyond can relate to.

Years ago I was desk assistant to a bond trader in London. Cricket sites were few and blocked, but the trader favoured a particular counterparty, because he would send live scores through over whatever chat thingy they used.
posted by pompomtom at 1:53 PM on October 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


I wonder why cricket bats are willow while baseball bats are usually ash.

Tradition, and weight. Cricket bat willow is very strong but lightweight.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:53 PM on October 9, 2014


Light weight is also an advantage in baseball, which is why players (illegally) cork their bats.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:29 AM on October 10, 2014


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