The game of Cricket has witnessed many controversies over the years. Sometimes it involved only players, sometimes it involved umpires and sometimes even the equipment. Talking about the controversial bats might sound uncanny but there have also been controversies regarding the willows used by few players.
5) Monster Cricket Bat – This is probably the first-ever controversy in cricket which happened reportedly around 240 years back. On 25th September 1771, in a match between Chertsey and Hambleton, reportedly a batter from the former team walked out with a monster size bat, which is big enough to cover the whole width of the stump. It is said that he did not use the bat to score runs rather his intention was just to defend and remaining not out. Hambleton players naturally protested against the use of such willow which was led by Thomas Brett. Later Hambleton players signed a petition which included their skipper Richard Nyren and John Small. The petition then led to the change of law regarding the size of the bat which was then limited to 4.3 inches in width which then normalized the size of the bat issue.
4) Carbon Graphite Strip on the bat – This controversy took place in 2006 when Ricky Ponting’s bat came under scrutiny due to the carbon strip that was attached in the backside of Ponting’s bat. Though Ponting had already used that type of before it was in 2006 when the particular type of bat’s usage created controversy. The MCC complained against the usage of this carbon graphite striped bat to ICC and insisted that the bat doesn’t conform the playing regulations. MCC came to the conclusion that the certain bat type along with Beast and Genesis Hurricane, two different types of Kookaburra bats shouldn’t be used claiming that those coloured graphite strips break laws regarding bat enhancements.
3) Aluminium Bat– Another former Baggy Greens player involved in the list of using controversial willows. This incident took place back in 15th December 1979, when the renowned former pacer Dennis Lillee walked out to bat with an aluminium bat. Though it was not the first time he used that aluminium bat but previously it did not create any controversy. The probable reason might be Lillee’s fluency in this particular innings. The then Aussie captain though thought that the Aluminium bat is not helping the team’s cause and asked the 12th man
Rodney Hogg to hand Lillee the traditional bat, still he continued with the Aluminium one. Meanwhile, England skipper Mike Brearley also started complaining regarding that aluminium bat and about the damage on the ball that the bat is doing. Aussie skipper Greg Chappell then decided to end this by entering and handing a traditional bat to Dennis Lillee much against the latter’s will and forced him to resume his innings with the traditional willow.Dennis threw his aluminium bat in repugnance and obeyed his skipper’s order.
2) Chris Gayle’s Golden coloured bat and Andre Russel’s Black coloured bat – The colour of the willow used in the game has also allured controversy in the recent past. Chris Gayle in the 2015 edition of Big Bash League walked out in the middle of the pitch with a golden
coloured bat which is different from normal colour of willows. He started off in his usual way but did not stay in the crease for a long duration as he got out on a personal score of 23. Everything seemed quite normal but suddenly some fans started claiming that the bat actually
had metal in it to help the cause of the batsman. Though the Spartan Chief, Kunal Sharma rubbished all the reports and said that it isn’t possible to use anything you want while making a bat. There are some strict restrictions on what one can use while manufacturing a cricket bat. Andre Russel also got involved in a similar sort of controversy in 2016 for using a black coloured willow. This also took place in a similar stage as Chris Gayle’s (BBL). The use of Andre Russel’s bat though got unanimous approval from Cricket Australia but after the usage of the bat in a match, it got mixed reactions from fans in social media. Probably this is what tempted the Australian board to ban the usage of the particular type of bats any further. Though they reasoned out that the bat was changing the colour of the ball, it logically can be a convincing one.
1) Mongoose Bat – This is the bat that probably created the biggest controversy among all in the given list. The weird-looking bat whose handle is bigger than the whole body had been considered to bring evolution in the game’s batting department. The whole body of the bat was
considered to be the sweet spot of the bat as many players considered. Naturally, fans created an uproar and questioned about the legality of the usage of this weird shaped bat, but it was legal. In an IPL match against Delhi Daredevils, Hayden scored a scintillating 93 runs off 43 balls
to display the destructiveness of the bat. Though Mongoose was good and easy for big hits, it was defending that worried the batsmen as it’s small body wasn’t suitable for defending the balls which means it would create problems in ODIs and Tests. Hence, many players who took up the Mongoose bats switched back to the traditional ones.
