The Stump Bat

This follows on from a response I posted in another thread about batting technique.

In my youth I had the great pleasure to have as a neighbour a journeyman cricketer who played and coached at county level - he taught me (or tried to) many things, but by far the best was how important it is to use net sessions to full effect, and standing there blasting the ball achieves little but a short-lived feel-good factor.

Arthur showed me the value of the 'stump-bat' - to all intents and purposes a stump used as a bat, but I now keep old bats and take an inch or so off each side and a couple of inches off the toe - leaving a narrowed, truncated bat.  It really does help you appreciate the middle of the bat, and when you pick up the real thing you feel as if you are playing with an oversized lump of willow.

Just thought I'd share that.

I find using a golf ball while using a 'stump' bat is best

Am I right in saying that is what Bradman used to do 3 hours a day?

oh yeah youre right 

Originally posted by 70_degree_spin Am I right in saying that is what Bradman used to do 3 hours a day?

Edited by shan - 18 January 2007 at 7:46pm

Originally posted by Pietersen Fan http://www.eyein.com.au/images/eye-in-home_18.jpg   thats the eye in thing possibly

Bloody hell, I missed a trick there - didn't I!!

Why would anyone pay good money for something you can fashion from an old bat?

There's time value of money, and then there's money value of time, got the clue W.G.?

Originally posted by shan There's time value of money, and then there's money value of time, got the clue W.G.? You cut the old willow or buy a ready-made one, either way it's equally good.

More of a clue than you m'old fruit.  There's the not wasting an old bat value of money, there's the satisfaction of doing it yourself, there's the learning involved ....... oh the 'want it now' society

Originally posted by W.G. Originally posted by shan There's time value of money, and then there's money value of time, got the clue W.G.? You cut the old willow or buy a ready-made one, either way it's equally good. More of a clue than you m'old fruit.  There's the not wasting an old bat value of money, there's the satisfaction of doing it yourself, there's the learning involved ....... oh the 'want it now' society

Edited by shan - 18 January 2007 at 9:11pm

Can I be the light tower for you Kerm? If this the only thing that matters then jugglers would have been the best batsmen, which they clearly aren't. It interalia includes practicing to improve your eye, middle the ball with straight bat, high back lift, practicing your shots, adjusting for the late movements etc. etc. so it's not only about this one thing. And with a rolled up paper you just cann't do all that stuff properly. And most importantly you cann't do nets like that, can you?

Originally posted by 70_degree_spin Am I right in saying that is what Bradman used to do 3 hours a day?

Bradman used to hit the ball with a stump against a brick tank, and the golf ball would fly off sharply at different angles due to the cracks between the bricks.

Originally posted by Kerm Well was only using that as a fairly poor example, you would use it for middling the bat obviously but the the high backlift and late movement ect wouldnt it be better to use your actual bat then you get the muscle memory for the future rather then learning it with a half bat then having to almost relearn to compensate, or is it as have as a normal bat?

you know what WG, i think I'm going to try this theory next net session, what did you cut the blade with?

any alternatives for a 15 year old? 

the 2nd one sounds like a fun option