Cricket bat care and maintenance: knocking in your new cricket bat

Written by Ian Canaway


Once you have oiled your new cricket bat you need to spend some time conditioning it before using it in a competitve environment. This is done byrepparttar process of knocking it in.

Ideally you should knock in any new cricket bat for at least six hours, yes it's a lot but it will help condition your bat for heavy usage without damaging it.

You should also knock-in your new cricket bat even if it comes advertised as 'ready to play', as it still won't be ready forrepparttar 150804 full force of a hard new cricket ball, especially if you catch an edge orrepparttar 150805 ball hitsrepparttar 150806 toe.

I've seen players go out on torepparttar 150807 square with a brand new cricket bat, which hadn't been knocked in. Inrepparttar 150808 first over he dug out a Yorker, which resulted in a 'fatal' crack inrepparttar 150809 toe ofrepparttar 150810 bat. If it had been knocked in properly it's unlikely this would have ever happened. If you don't knock in your bat you could literally be 'throwing £200 downrepparttar 150811 pan'.

To knock in your bat I highly recommend you use an old high quality cricket ball.

Begin gently by tappingrepparttar 150812 bat, particularly focusing in onrepparttar 150813 edges, as these are a very vulnerable part ofrepparttar 150814 bat and byrepparttar 150815 end you wantrepparttar 150816 edges to be almost slightly rounded.

Spend 2-3 hours doing this stage of knocking inrepparttar 150817 bat, making sure you cover all ofrepparttar 150818 face ofrepparttar 150819 bat, excludingrepparttar 150820 splice area. Don't knock-inrepparttar 150821 back ofrepparttar 150822 cricket bat.

After you have done this gradually increaserepparttar 150823 force with which you hitrepparttar 150824 bat, making sure you systematically cover all ofrepparttar 150825 face ofrepparttar 150826 bat. Byrepparttar 150827 end you should be hittingrepparttar 150828 bat with full force to simulaterepparttar 150829 impact of a real cricket ball.

Cricket Bat Care and Maintenance Tips

Written by Ian Canaway


You should oil your new cricket bat using linseed oil before you begin to it knock-in.

Firstly lightly sandrepparttar surfaces ofrepparttar 150803 cricket bat with a fine grade of sand paper. Then apply 2-3 light coats of oil to all exposed surfaces ofrepparttar 150804 bat, allowing sufficient time forrepparttar 150805 bat to dry between coats, usually overnight.

It’s best to avoid oiling your cricket bat if it already has an artificial coating. Also don’t standrepparttar 150806 bat in oil as this can causerepparttar 150807 bat to soften and be more prone to damage.

Once you have oiled your bat and it has dried out, you can then begin to knock-in your new cricket bat.

After a match always check over your bat for signs of damage, such as cracking or splitting ofrepparttar 150808 wood. You can repair damage by sanding and cleaningrepparttar 150809 damaged area, then using super glue or cricket bat tape to repair any small surface cracks.

Duringrepparttar 150810 off season, avoid storing your new cricket bat in a dry/warm location. Particularly avoid storing your bat in direct sunlight or rooms in your house where there are artificially high temperatures, as this will causerepparttar 150811 bat to dry out.

Atrepparttar 150812 end ofrepparttar 150813 season if is often worth applying another light coat of linseed oil and again atrepparttar 150814 start ofrepparttar 150815 next season. But don’t over oil as you may end up weakeningrepparttar 150816 willow.

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