The Cricket Bat Myth: Is Willow Really the Best?
For over 200 years, cricket bats have been made from English willow. But what if that’s just tradition—not the best choice?
As a woodworker, I decided to test this theory myself. I built cricket bats from oak, bamboo, cedar, pine, and poplar—and the results might shock you! In this video, I compare willow vs. alternative woods, explore the science behind bat materials, and ask the big question: Is it time for a change in cricket bat design?
Key Topics Covered:
✅ Why English willow is considered the best wood for cricket bats
✅ The key differences between cricket and baseball bats
✅ My DIY cricket bat experiment—testing 5 different woods!
✅ Player reactions & real-world feedback on non-willow bats
✅ Sustainability, durability, and the future of cricket bat materials
What do you think? Should cricket move beyond willow, or is tradition too strong?
OAK CRICKET BAT
As a woodworker, I am acutely aware of the unique properties of wood. Crafting a cricket bat capable of withstanding balls traveling at up to 90 mph using English willow doesn't seem to make a lot of sense—despite it being a medium hardwood, willow has softwood properties. It requires hardening and knocking before it can be used. This led me to ask: Why not start with hardwood?
Now, I am by no means an authority on cricket bats—I don’t even play cricket—but, I was intrigued by the cane handle and the claims of English Willow’s superiority
I made sure this bat met all necessary specifications. This bat is 4 inches wide, approximately 32.5 inches in length, with a maximum depth of 2.6 inches. It weighs 2.74 lb, including the sticker, anti-scuff sheet, and an extra-thick grip.
I had it tested by local cricket players, and they confirmed its perfect balance, exceptional ping, and flawless pick-up.
So, there you have it. Which bat will you choose?
BAMBOO CRICKET BAT
During my research for making the hardwood bat mentioned earlier, I came across Bamboo as a promising alternative for cricket bats. Although bamboo belongs to the grass family and may seem like an unlikely candidate at first, the more I researched, the more captivated I became by its potential.
Here are the three key reasons that stood out to me (see source below for reference):
Bamboo bats are stronger
They transfer more energy to the ball
Bamboo grows up to 3 feet a day, offering greater sustainability.
If bamboo could match wood’s performance for cricket bats, it could revolutionize the manufacturing process and reduce the reliance on wood. A willow tree, for example, takes around 15 years to grow to maturity, while bamboo can achieve similar heights in just a few weeks. And where the Willow’s trunk offers a lot more mass and thus wood, it is simply a matter of growing ‘x’ number of Bamboo to match the quantity of wood.
This idea began to make too much sense to ignore.
Now, I’m no expert on bamboo, and I’m still figuring out the exact requirements for its growth and how much bamboo is needed to produce a single cricket bat. But I was eager to test the potential for myself, so I set out to build one.
My first challenge, however, was sourcing bamboo. I couldn’t find it at the usual wood supply shops in Canada, so I ended up purchasing a desktop slab of solid bamboo. By "solid bamboo," I mean a pre-glued-up slab, which allowed me to skip the painstaking process of gluing individual bamboo strips. The last thing I wanted was to see a glue-up fail in a hundred different ways!
Source:
https://newatlas.com/materials/bamboo-cricket-bats/
https://lewisbamboo.com/pages/growth-chart-of-bamboo
Bamboo Bat specifications:
Weight: 2.67 pounds or 1211 grams.
Length: 32.5 inches
Width: 4 and 1/16 inches
Max Depth: approx. 1.5 inches
CEDAR & PINE CRICKET BAT
The feedback I received for the Oak bat was mostly positive, but many players noted that they were missing the signature "Willow sound" and felt that the vibration in the bat handle was more pronounced than they would like. The sound difference makes sense to me, as Oak is much harder than Willow, so it naturally produces a different tone. However, the vibration is a more legitimate concern, as it can lead to discomfort or injury in the hand, wrist, or arm over time.
With this feedback in mind, I decided to explore new versions of cricket bats made from softwoods, hoping to address both the sound difference and vibration concerns.
I’m pleased to report that the bats made from Cedar and Pine both produce a sound almost identical to Willow. They also send no more vibration to the handle than a Willow bat and provide a similar, if not greater, stroke. I’ve documented the process in the video—check it out and let me know what you think!
If you have any thoughts on the sound or vibration of these bats as heard in the video, or any other suggestions, I’d be grateful for your feedback.
The Build:
For this project, I started with two pieces each of 2x6 Pine and Cedar, along with two bat handles. The rest of the build is documented in the video.
I hope you enjoy the process as much as I did!
Cedar bat specification:
Width: 4 and 1/8 inch
Length: 33 inches
Max depth: 2 and 1/4 inches
Weight: 2.77 pounds
Pine bat specification:
Width: 4 and 1/4 inch
Length: 33.5 inches
Max depth: 2.5 inches
Weight: 2.7 pounds
POPLAR CRICKET BAT
I recently made a cricket bat out of Poplar and chose to use a bow tie joint for the handle instead of the traditional V-joint. The bow tie joint offers greater stability and more surface area for glue, reducing the likelihood of the handle sliding out of the bat—even in the unlikely event that the glue fails or isn’t properly applied.
This video marks the final installment in a series of videos I've published on my cricket bat builds. These builds are part of an ongoing investigation into why English Willow is considered the best wood for cricket bats. So far, I’ve made and tested cricket bats from Oak, Cedar, Pine, Bamboo, and now Poplar. While each wood type has its pros and cons, I find it hard to declare any one wood as the definitive "best." Ultimately, it seems to come down to player preference.
Across all five bats I’ve made with different materials, the feedback I’ve received has mostly been about the feel of the bat. In every instance, testers commented on the sound the bat made or the level of shock absorption in the handle. Not once did I hear that the bat lacked ping, felt off-balance, or didn’t perform as well as a Willow bat. In fact, players testing the Cedar and Pine bats reported zero difference when compared to Willow and even went as far as saying those bats offered better shock absorption and sound.
However, from my experience, I’ve found that Cedar and Pine bats wear out more quickly than Willow, Oak, or Poplar bats. If I were to play cricket myself, I’d certainly enjoy using a Pine or Cedar bat for a match, with a couple of extra bats on hand just in case one breaks. I love the stroke those bats provide, and the feel is softer compared to Willow, Poplar, or other hardwoods.
So, after building and testing cricket bats from multiple types of wood in the same conditions with the same testers and manufacturing standards, I find it hard to accept that English Willow is definitively the best wood for cricket bats. There’s no clear reason to believe Willow outperforms the other options.
In the end, it all comes down to the player’s preference.
Poplar Bat specifications:
Width: 4.25 inches
Length: 33.125 inches
Blade: 22 inches
Thickness (edge and blade): 1.55 inches (max)
Weight: 2.69 pounds