After you buy a new shiny bat, the first thing comes into your mind is that weather this bat is pre-knocked or you will need to knock it. A lot of sellers claim that their bats are pre-knocked and ready to play while other ask players to open up their bat a little in the beginning.
When you buy a new bat, it is advisable to knock it up a little in the beginning and not directly take it to play a cricket match. Pre-knocked cricket bats also require knocking either with a leather ball or a knocking hammer. Kashmir willow bat in particular require knocking in the beginning before they can put to play. The reason a bat is to be knocked is so that its wood loses its stiffness and grains in the wood become more porous. A knocked bat ‘activates’ the willow and allows the grains to reposition themselves.
Knocking can be done by hanging a ball in a sock or by using a hammer. We at Sport Axe also sell a special bat care oil which can applied to a new bat before it is knocked. Our special bat care oil helps your bat to open up without causing any damage to the surface of the bat. English willow bats with high number of grains often do not require any knocking as companies spent a considerable amount of time in knocking it before it is sold. We at Sport Axe give basic knocking to every bat before it is sold, but still, it is not enough as most bat require up to 10 days of knocking with an old ball, preferably in a sock. You can also buy a knocking hammer from our website which will help you knock your bat without causing any damage to the bat.
Once important advantage of knocking a Kashmir or English willow cricket bats is that such bats have a longer endurance when compared with bats which have not been knocked properly. So, knocking a bat does add a life to your bat as grains contract and then expand as you play in the field allowing you to not just generate better power in strokes but also immunity against poor quality balls and poor shots.