A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batters in the sport of cricket to hit the ball, typically consisting of a cane handle attached to a flat-fronted willow-wood blade. It may also be used by a batter who is making ground to avoid a run out, by holding the bat and touching the ground with it.
As a matter of fact, The length of the bat may be no more than 38 inches (96.5 cm) and the width no more than 4.25 inches (10.8 cm). Its use is first mentioned in 1624. Since 1979, a law change has provided that cricket bats can only be made from wood.
Kashmir due to its high quality wood can become the bat producing hub of the world. With passing time, the cricket bats produced in Kashmir are used in highest form of international cricket.
Related stakeholders urge that the government is to provide 1 billion saplings of willow trees in Kashmir as the present number of willow trees is declining, and with new one billion saplings, the material for bat industry will play an important role, and boost the production of bats; the material is available in England or in Kashmir valley.
Currently, dwindling willow plantations are affecting the region’s famed cricket bat industry and risking the supply of cricket bats in India, where the sport is hugely followed.
In the 17th over of a T20 World Cup match between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sri Lanka on October 18 at Kardinia Park in Geelong, Australia, Junaid Siddiqui of UAE hit Sri Lankan bowler Dushmantha Chameera for a six. The ball ballooned into the sky and went out of the park, travelling 109 metres.
Even though UAE lost the match to Sri Lanka, getting bowled out for 73 in 17.1 overs while chasing a target of 152, the mammoth six was a little moment of victory for a small village in Kashmir as bat was from Sangam in Kashmir.
