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1980: How to Make a Traditional Cricket Bat | Nationwide | BBC Archive
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6:58Now Playing"One of Britain's most successful businesses, and one of its most old-fashioned."
John Hitchins looks at the history of the traditional willow cricket bat. He visits the Gray-Nicolls cricket bat factory at Robertsbridge - where once they made a bat for the great W.G. Grace - to speak with John Newbury about the varieties of cricket bat that can be made.
Willow is sorted, cut, seasoned, pressed, and shaped, before handles made from imported Indonesian cane are spliced in, and the grips are stringed. Finally, the bat is painstakingly shaped to ensure the correct weight and balance. The finished bats are then tested by professional players like Paul Parker of Sussex.
But are the days of the traditional willow cricket bat numbered? Australia's Dennis Lillee controversially wielded an aluminium bat in last year's test match against England, pointing to a future where bats could be made from anything. The MCC promptly introduced a new law for bats, stating that ‘The blade shall consist solely of wood’ - so for now at least, the willow bat is here to stay.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 23 May, 1980.
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