A Short History 

The original cricket bats date all the way up to the 1620’s when the cricket bat was shaped like a hockey stick. In the 1770’s the laws of the game were changed and the bats had changed their form to become roughly parallel with a maximum width of 4.25. It's the same width as they use in the cricket bats today. In the 1820’s when round arm bowling was allowed they had to change the cricket bat to become lighter with a light swell. Until the 1830’s all types of cricket bat were one piece of willow but because of breakages of the bats as the ball travelled faster, cricket bat makers started to “splice” handles into bats. These handles were either solid, willow or ash. 5 years later, the length of the cricket bat was restricted to 38", which is still the same used today. In 1840, the first recorded use of a ‘spring’ was being inserted into the handle of a cricket bat.These were initially made from whale bone , and then some years later India rubber. In 1853, a Nottingham County cricketer named ‘Thomas Nixon’ introduced the use of cane in handle making in cricket bats. The laws in the game were modified to allow over arm bowling so there was a further lightening and more refined shaping of the bat. Handles became very detailed constructions and nearly all of them were made with cane Indian rubber grips. In the late 1870’s the shape of today's cricket bat evolved.