Tips for retailers

Changing the way you sell cricket bats

Would it be possible to measure this "feel" — or pick-up weight — of the bat? speculated Hugo Maree, MD of the cricket specialist store, Cricket Direct, at Supersport Park… whereupon he proceeded to develop a device that can actually measure the pick-up weight of a bat.

This Pick-Up Weight Indicator (PWI) — believed to be the first in the world — makes selling a cricket bat considerably easier as the retailer now has guidelines on what bat would probably suit his customer’s style of play.

"The pick-up weight will have a dramatic influence on a batsman’s reaction time and potential stroke he is going to play," says Maree. "A bat maker can produce a 2lb 13oz (dead weight) bat with either a very light or a very heavy pick-up weight. The fact that wood is a natural hand-made product with different shapes and thicknesses makes it impossible to manufacture two identical bats."

There are four main variables to a cricket bat: thickness; length; shape and wood density. "As the game progresses, the ball becomes softer, with less bounce," Maree explains. "This implies that, on average, the ball will strike the opening (top order) batsmen higher on the bat than with the lower order batsmen."

The PWI device calculates all four variables to a cricket bat digitally to give you the pick-up weight. This is combined with the player’s height and batting style (place in the batting line-up) – and these calculations helps the retailer to recommend a bat that has the right "feel" for that particular customer.

"We can also determine the PWI index/’feel’ of the customer’s current bat and assist with the selection of a new bat with a similar PWI index/‘feel’."

The PWI was initially developed to add an extra dimension to their revamped Cricket Direct store, but there was so much interest at the opening of the store, that they are now thinking about wider distribution.

"A bat supplier has even suggested that bat manufacturers should have a PWI device in their factories that would enable them to put each pick-up weight on the label," he says. "This could make it possible to sell bats online in future."