What Is Ready 2 Play?

Every piece of English willow is unique. Some bats require more oil, while others need less preparation before they are ready for the crease. Rather than treating every bat the same, our experienced staff assess each bat individually and prepare it accordingly to the characteristics of the willow.

Our Ready 2 Play service includes:

• Individually hand oiling based on the condition of the willow
• Multiple oil applications where required, typically at three-day intervals, allowing the willow to absorb the oil naturally
• Essential hand knocking-in on the key playing areas
• Edge protection tape professionally fitted
• Once completed, your cricket bat is ready to begin its cricketing journey
  

Why We Don't Fully Knock-In Every Bat

Many customers ask why we don't offer a complete 4 to 5-hour knocking in process as part of our standard service.

The simple answer,

Every cricket bat develops differently, Premium English willow contains to mature as it is used. Gradually introducing your bat through net sessions and practice allows the fibres within the willow to compress naturally, often producing better long-term performance than intensive machine or prolonged knocking alone.

For this reason, we recommend that every player continues with some additional hand knocking-in before using older cricket balls or facing sustained match play. This gradual process helps maximise both performance and longevity.

Hand Prepared - Never Machine Knocked 

At SR Cricket, we only use traditional hand knocking techniques. 

We do not use machine knocking.

In our experience, machine knocking never-compress the natural fibres of the willow and remove some of the bat's natural character. Hand preparation allows us to carefully work each bat according to its individual characteristics, giving greater control throughout the preparation process.

It takes longer, but we believe your bat deserves nothing less.