Warner unfazed by bat-size restriction

David Warner, who is likely to be among the batsmen impacted if the MCC’s proposal to limit bat sizes is passed into law, has said playing with a slimmer piece of willow would not to make too much of a difference to his game.

“We’re just going to have to adapt to the changes,” Warner said on Saturday. “And, you know what, the ball’s still going to go the same distance, the ball will still go to the fence, and we’re still going to get our ones and twos, and the odd nick might not carry this time.”

Warner’s T20 bat reportedly measures 85mm at its thickest part. Under the proposed rule, bats will be limited to a thickness of 67mm at the spine and 40mm at the edge.

Warner reckoned that these limits would force a number of batsmen to trim down their bats. He said he had been to his bat-maker to have his bats checked by a gauge, and that even the bats from the start of his career did not go through it. He still reckoned he would cope with a slimmer bat, referencing the double-sided model he had used a few years ago in domestic T20 cricket.

“I was down there previously, about six months ago, and I had a look, and we put a whole various range of bats, from when I started and a few other guys started, and I’m not sure if they were the correct measurements, but they weren’t going through the measurement thing they were doing,” he said. “But at the end of the day they’ve got to govern that as well.

“For us, we’ve just got to use whatever the bat-maker brings us, but remember, I used a double-sized bat which wasn’t even 30 mils or 40 mils. I used that quite well as well.” (ESPNCricinfo)