Ricky Ponting thinks big bats give players like David Warner an unfair advantage. Warner himself has a slightly different take.
The Aussie opener believes the thicker edges on his infamous Gray Nicholls Kaboom actually lead to him getting out more often than someone who uses a more ‘regular’ bat.
Warner remains an ardent admirer of modern bat technology – despite the concerns of ex-players like Ponting and even some of Warner’s own teammates – and insists that rather than blaming the bat sizes for the dominance of willow-wielders across all three forms of the game, more blame lies at the feet of curators.
“If we look around the country, I think that the wickets are pretty much dictating the Test cricket arena at the moment,” Warner said. “A lot of batters are scoring a lot of runs and I think there’s been a lot of runs scored probably in the last 12 to 18 months.”
“You can’t specifically come out and say it’s specifically because of the big bats, because everyone around the country and the world is actually scoring a lot of runs.”
Concerns about flat pitches are widespread among international players, but Warner’s assertion about his thicker bat leading to more edges – while possibly accurate – might earn a wry smile from the many bowlers who have been on the receiving end of his brutal batting power.
“If we go back to the Ashes and have a look at my leading edges, I think it probably didn’t help me,” Warner said. “There are pros and cons.
“When you look at the side profile of these bats, I think it looks bigger because of the edges.
“We’ve seen time and time again that a lot of players have been getting out with leading edges and they’ve probably been going over the infield – or they’ve actually been carrying to the boundary off the edges.”
