Bat sizes to stay the same: MCC

Modern cricket bats are up to three times larger than those from 100 years ago, but the MCC's World Cricket Committee has ruled that the battle between bat and ball remains an even contest.

The 14-person committee, featuring the likes of Steve Waugh, Rahul Dravid and Charlotte Edwards, met at Lord's this week to discuss a raft of issues including corruption, Mankading and the long-term vision for the game.

Also on the agenda was the size of modern-day bats and whether or not they have skewed the game too far in favour of the batsmen.

Despite extensive research that detailed the technical details of how bats from a century ago are dwarfed by those of today, the Committee said the current Laws regarding bat size will stay the same.

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Committee member and former England captain Andrew Strauss said how best to entertain the fans was considered in the deliberations.

"For the time being, we feel that there is a decent balance there (between bat and ball)," Strauss said.

"But clearly it needs monitoring to make sure it doesn't slip too far in one direction in the future."

While it has long been accepted that bats today favour the batsmen more than they did in the past, the study from the Imperial College London was able to explain how and why.

The study tested five bats – one each from 1905, 1980 and 2009, and two from 2013.

It revealed that while the length and width of bats has remained steady over the course of 100 years, bat thickness has jumped from 45mm in 1905 to 69mm in 2013.

The thickness of edges in modern bats has also increased by almost 300 per cent which, combined with greater stiffness to limit vibrations, means mis-hits can travel much further distances.

The size of the 'sweet spot' on the face is also two-and-a-half times bigger on modern bats and located higher on the blade.

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The research also detailed how newer bats are not only heavier, but they also have mass distributed closer to the toe of the bat. That makes their 'pick-up' weight heavier but with a higher sweet spot combined with lower mass, it allows batsmen to hit balls further regardless of where on the bat they strike.

In an interesting result for modern cricketers, the study revealed the 2013 'scoop' design is both lighter and contains a bigger sweet spot than the standard design from 2013.

Along with the research from the Imperial College London, the MCC's committee also considered a study of ODI cricket since 1979, which revealed that the number of sixes per match has more than tripled in the past 35 years.

The pros and cons of the increase in sixes, such as entertainment value for fans as against the prevalence of mis-hits that were clearing the rope, were discussed.

But the Committee said there were "mixed views in the room" so it was decided that they would not recommend limits on the edges and depths of bats, at least for now.