Storm
Damage ( also known as Wind Damage)
This
is when the tree has been affected by very strong winds which
has blown the tree from side to side in a very excessive manor
and has broken the cell structure of the willow, it will happen
more in the tops of the tree which get whipped around more
and therefore it is also more prevalent in narrow grain bats
(the grains of a bat are always narrower in the top of the
tree than the bottom). If you imagine the cell structure of
a willow tree running from top to bottom, if there is lateral
movement to excess these cells will break and cause a weakness.
This
wind damage is a natural occurrence and there is absolutely
nothing us or the bat manufacturer can do about it.
The majority of these bats are found when they are in the
manufacturing process but some will still get through to the
customer. They will not always break ( they normally
break as per the attached photo by snapping across the grain)
but if slightly misused or they catch a fast Yorker on the
toe with perhaps a poor quality ball they are more likely
to break. A good way to reduce the chances of this are
by having extra toe protection on the bat.
You
can see from the photo that storm damage is obvious as the
bat will split right across the blade (across the grain) ,
or sometimes halfway across.
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