What weight cricket bat is best for me?

We regard that judging the suitability of a cricket bat across manufacturers by weight is a flawed method. Some cricket bats are light on the scales yet they have a heavy pick up. Other english willow cricket bats like RNS Larsons Euro Plus, Pinch Hitter etc... have extremely light weight pickup for the weight and come well recommended by our customers. The higher the grade of the bat better the willow and the lighter it will feel. Grade 1 english willow is less dense than Grade 3 or 4 and therefore more of it can be 'packed' into the same weight cricket bat. On the other hand, Kashmir willow cricket bats contain the most dense willow and therefore are the heaviest.

Cricket bats by RNS Larsons come between 2lb 08oz right up to 3lb 08oz. Traditionally, lower order batsmen and bowlers tend to favour heavier bats as they like to hit the big shots while opening batsmen prefer the lighter bats to play the technical and more nimble shots. Essentially the weight of the bat depends on your build and what you feel comfortable playing with.

What do the grains on the cricket bat mean?

Top grade english willow cricket bats such usually have 7-14 straight grains. It is regarded within the cricket community that less the number of grains the 'stronger' the willow will be. It means it would have a lower tendency to chip or break but is suspected to have a slightly worse ping or punch.

On the other hand, more the grains on the face of the cricket bat the better its ping. But that means the bat is not as strong and would not last very long.

It is believed that the best compromise between strength and ping is around 7-9 grains. This give the best results over a period of time.

Does imperfections in the willow affect the cricket bat's performance?

Probably the most common imperfection found is the small knot or "pin knot".  These are generally up to 10 mm in diameter and are still living.  Normally they will be present in the edge and / or back of the bat although sometimes they are visible on the face.  They will not affect the playing of the bat at all.
Pin Knot
   
"Speck" is another which is due entirely to the growing conditions of the tree.  The tree has grown in earth containing a lot of gravel and / or stones.  The tree has taken tiny molecules up into itself with water and this gets deposited along in between the grains.  It is purely cosmetic and is also the sign of a strong bat that will last.
Speck
 
This is "Butterfly Stain", so called as it resembles the body and wings of a butterfly.  It is actually attributed to the tree being of a hybrid of English Cricket Bat Willow, it is very strong and plays well.  It is just a matter if you like to have a bat that looks a bit special.
Butterfly Stain
 
This is a more pronounced form of Butterfly Stain and is known as Bar Stain.  Again the wood is very strong and you can tell the difference from Butterfly Stain by the fact that this has many "Bars" of stain very close together.
Bar Stain
 
A very common imperfection is the "False Growth".  This is caused when for some reason the tree has stopped growing for maybe one season.  It can be caused by drought, fire or weed killer.  Nine times out of ten there is no weakness in the bat and they will certianly not break along the False Growth.  It will normally run parallel to the normal grains.
False Growth
   
This blade has a brown line down the middle as you can see in the photograph.  It has been caused by the roots having been cut either by a digger or perhaps a plough. It is rot in the very early stages but not to the detriment of the playing ability.
Cut Roots
 
This is a "dead knot".  The tree has been trimmed up very late and the resulting branch has been left to grow for many years.  Before this can be used to make a bat the knot is drilled out and filled.  As long as it is not on the face of the bat it will have very little detrimental effect on the playability.

Dead Knot

Taken from J S Wright and Sons.