This is probably the most frequently asked question we receive from worried parents or those new to the game.

The important thing to understand is that crickets bats are made from a natural material that will dent, crack and split when hit with a cricket ball. This is a completely normal part of the game and shouldn't be a cause for concern. Cracks and dents are not manufacturing faults and will not affect the performance of your bat in any way. They tend to occur early on in a bat's life as the wood is still soft and not fully compressed. Knocking a bat in with a bat mallet prior to use will help to reduce the severity of cracking, but it will never eliminate it completely, particularly if you strike the ball on the edge or toe of the bat.

The higher grade cricket bats, which will perform better, may actually crack more than harder, lower grade bats. Whilst it may be upsetting to see a perfect piece of timber suddenly become dented and cracked by the ball, we can only stress that this is purely cosmetic and your bat will perform just as well as before. In fact it will normally improve with age as the fibres in the timber get fully played in.

Below are examples of cracks you can expect during use:

These cracks are not manufacturing defects - If your bat has a crack similar to the pictures above then you should not be concerned. The best way to rectify cricket bat cracking of the likes incurred above is with some handy work.

We recommend PVA adhesive and bat tape. You can use any standard wood adhesive that you would find in a home or hardware store; try and get the strongest one possible. First of all insert glue within the crack. When it is dried you can apply the bat tape, this should be standard bat tape enhanced with fibre glass. 

When you have applied both the bat tape and glue, the bat should be ready to go, if you wish you may feel like applying an anti-scruff sheet, if you didn't have one already. 

If the damage to your bat becomes far worse than just denting and cracking - for example, the handle breaks or the bat splits through the toe or breaks in half, then this would be a sign of a manufacturing fault and it would need to be sent back for inspection. Below are some example of bats which would need replacing due to these problems:

If your bat has split like the above or has a broken handle, please complete a returns form on our website and it will guide you through what to do.