No willow worries for Warner despite ICC rule revision

BENGALURU: In its bid to reduce advantage of batsmen over bowlers, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has put in place restrictions on bat size which are set to come into effect from Thursday. The India-Australia series will not come under the purview of the new rules.

The thickness of a bat cannot be more than 67mm and the edge must be within 40mm. How does that affect batting? As per ICC, it’s unfair to have a bat of a larger sweet spot which can send a miss-hit for a boundary. Thus ICC Chief Executive David Richardson recently announced the change after former Australia captain Ricky Ponting suggested this change.

But what does that mean for a batsman like Australia opener David Warner, who uses an oversized piece of willow to smack bowlers all over the park? According to him, it means nothing. It’s now in the rule book, and he has obliged, well before ICC’s restriction.

“I have gone back to the bat I started my career with. I have been using the same bat from the Bangladesh series and I have got used to it. But it didn’t really affect me when I started my career so I don’t think it will affect me now,” Warner said during Australia’s pre-match press conference, here on Wednesday.

It wasn’t just his words that termed the new rule unnecessary, his batting did too. During nets on Tuesday, he was as destructive as he is in a game. He cleared the fence at will and sent balls to the second tier on multiple occasions. But it’s not just Warner’s Kaboom bat, though. MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and AB de Villiers – all of them may need to replace their existing willows. The effect of the size of the bat is widely debated but none can deny that all batsmen who use heavy bats are hard hitters. Thus it could very well be assumed that bat size does matter in cricket, at least in limited-over cricket.

Warner, however, termed it as a misconception. “I think everyone has sort of been misled in a way where they think the big bats clear the fences easier than what the old bats used to. But we were hitting sixes with bats five-six years ago and are still hitting sixes today,” he said. “At the end of the day, you obviously have to use what you have been given but it’s not going to make a difference at all.

Milestone beckons

On Thursday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where he won his first IPL title, Warner will write another chapter of his career. He will play his 100th ODI. The New South Wales man has come a long way in his career from starting as a T20 specialist. He has proved himself time and again and has established himself as an explosive batsman across all formats. “I never thought I would come so far. I’ve learnt a lot in the early stages of my career and it’s a significant milestone for me and my family. I’m extremely proud of where I am today,” he said.