Australian engineers have developed a style of new cricket bat, the “Smart Cricket Bat” which, its inventors claim will allow players to thwack the ball without fear of injury or strain.
The bat's innovative handle is fitted with electro-mechanical sensors and a vibration-absorbing synthetic material which converts shockwaves into heat and dampens vibration.
This reduces vibration of the handle by 42% and increases the size of the bat’s “sweet spot”, the zone where the batsman experiences the least discomfort when smashing the ball over to the boundary.
The same technology, a carbon fibre-shell with a polymer insert, is already used to dampen vibration in baseball bats and tennis raquets. However tennis raquets and golf clubs can be manufactured from material such as carbon fibre and titanium but the laws of cricket dictate that all bats are made from wood.
Professor Sabu John, an expert in “intelligent” materials who leads the design team at the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia, believes he has found a loophole which overcomes this: the regulations apply only to the bat and not its handle.
“As far as we know it’s legal,” he told The Australian newspaper. A spokesman for Cricket Australia declined to comment.
The bat is being developed in conjunction with Australian manufacturer Kookaburra Sport and could be on sale within 18 months provided the additional funding of £240,000 needed to go into production, can be found.
If it does go into production, the Smart bat is expected to cost around £40 more than the most expensive bat currently on sale, which is around £200-£250 in Australia.
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