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The Best Ready To Play Cricket Bat for 2025

The Best Ready To Play Cricket Bat for 2025

It’s easy to assume that all cricket bats are ready to play with as soon as they arrive, but this is not the case.

Sadly, there are some horror stories about people buying bats. For instance, a lot of people who don’t buy a ready to play cricket bat can find that it breaks under the pressure of a hard cricket ball. Instantly.

Imagine the horror. Your new bat arrives and you head to the nets with your friends, and the first time you edge a delivery (it happens more than most of us would like) a huge chunk comes out of your bat.

Ready to play cricket bats help you to avoid any issues, and make the most of the excitement of new equipment. Let’s face it, once a new piece of cricket gear arrives, you want to get out there and use it. The prospect of having to spend time preparing it takes some of that excitement away.

With the Village Cricket Bat, you can take it straight to the nets or even to play in a match without having to do any maintenance.

In this guide, we explore what making cricket bats ready to play really means, and the best option out there to get started as soon as your bat shows up at your door.

Knocking-In and Oiling

Veteran, experienced players will know all bout having to knock in and oil their bats. If you’re going to use a bat for the long term, this is just some of the maintenance that you have to learn about. 

Knocking in a bat makes it stronger, and as well as performing better, it will be more durable and able to cope with the pretty hefty impact of a hard cricket ball. The process is designed to bind and compress the fibres of the bat together so that it is tougher and able to cope with repeatedly making impact with the ball (well, at least we batters hope to make repeated contact).

The Process of Knocking In

So, what is the process of knocking in? Is it worth buying a bat that is ready knocked in or is the process something you can handle yourself? 

Before knocking in the bat there is an additional tip, you need to apply linseed oil. 2-3 tablespoons, evenly spread across the bat. The bat won’t be ready for knocking until about a full day after the linseed oil is applied, as it can take this long to soak in.

The bat mallet, which is a piece of equipment that is made for the job of knocking in, can then be used to tap all over the bat, gently at first and then gradually a little harder to replicate the process of a bat being hit with a ball. A ball in a couple of thick socks can also be used. 

You need to hit all over the face of the bat, but also around the edges and the toe. Remember that these get plenty of action too (more than most of us would want). Replicate the way that the ball would hit the bat. Hitting the edges from side on is not going to have much of an impact. 

This process can take a few hours, and for a newbie, you may not even know you’ve got it right at this stage.

Benefits of a Ready to Play Cricket Bat

You need to be thorough when you knock in your bat, and if you get it wrong you can risk damage. If you don’t know how to do it, you run the risk of making an error, and most beginners would rather not take their chances.

So the benefits of getting a ready to play cricket bat are clear:

  • It can help the bat to perform better. It’s more likely to make a firm contact and hit those sweet cover drives when you need it to.
  • The bat is far less likely to break when coming into contact with the ball.
  • It can save you hours of time, and a level of uncertainty if you have never had to knock in a bat before.

You should knock in a bat after any prolonged period of time when it isn’t used. In-between seasons it is pretty normal to spend an evening knocking in your bat. Fortunately, if you buy a ready to play cricket bat online then it will arrive ready to go and you will only have to knock it in when you reach a stage when you are not playing so much.

When you buy from the Village Cricket Co you can be sure that the knocking in is done by someone with experience. If you have never knocked in a bat before this can give you a lot of peace of mind. Knowing that you’re taking to the pitch with a bat that is ready for the job.

The Village Cricket Bat – An Ready to Play Solution

You might assume that getting a bat that is knocked in already and instantly ready for use might come with extra cost. In fact, with the Village Cricket Bat, you can enjoy the bat without any worries about whether or not it is actually up to the task when it arrives. There’s even a moneyback guarantee.

What makes the Village Cricket Bat a great choice?

Made for English pitches and conditions – the bat has a low middle which is ideally suited to English pitches which tend to have quite a low and slow bounce. This helps most of us cricketers, beginners and otherwise, to make strong contact with the cricket ball.

It’s 2lb 9oz – this is the ideal middle ground. It’s a bat that is good for players who have loads of power to smash the ball to all parts, but it is also great for touch players, or those who play with more of a defensive style. 2lb 9oz is the most common bat weight, and could be considered ‘standard’.

No sponsorship and professional chasing – the Village Cricket Co. doesn’t waste time and money endorsing professionals, meaning that the savings on marketing activities can be passed on to customers.

Made to last more than one season – did you know that some manufacturers make cricket bats that they know full well are going to break? This comes down to the type of willow used. The Village Cricket Bat uses high-grade Salix Alba willow from India. If you look after the bat then it will look after you for many seasons to come. It’s ideal to help you to rack up those high scores on a Saturday afternoon.

Summary

The Village Cricket Bat is a great solution that doesn’t have to cost the earth. As well as being affordable, it is also built to last, and can make the ideal accomplice for batters or even for having in the club equipment bag so that those without their own bat can use something sturdy and reliable.

We believe that all cricket bats should arrive ready to play with, and that you shouldn’t have to spend hours on maintenance before you even hit a ball.