Cricket and Tennis are two of the most popular sports in the world. While tennis has been a truly global support, the advent of T20 cricket has led to an exponential growth in the past few decades. Both sports have had a very rich history.
In cricket, hitting the ball outside the line benefits the player whereas in tennis one has to hit inside the lines to be able to win the game. Over the years, the equipment used in cricket and tennis have gone massive changes as well. It almost seems unfair to compare a team sport with an individual sport, let alone the equipment used but here is a deep dive into how the bats and rackets went under major changes as the game evolved.
In infant stages
It may surprise many but tennis is more ancient a sport when compared to cricket. In the 12th century, players used their palms instead of rackets. Some studies trace the game's origin back to Northern France. In 16th century, for the first time world tennis was used and wooden rackets came into existence.
On the other hand, the first mention of bat was in 16th century when a batter killed a fielder with his bat in order to prevent him from taking a catch. Before the 1770s when cricket was nowhere near to becoming a global sport, the bat looked more like a hockey stick as the bowlers bowled underarm. Soon enough, the bowlers were allowed to loop the ball and it gave birth to the law which states that a bats' width should not exceed 4.25 inches.
As bowling evolved, the bats became more parallel to aid the batters. Earlier, there was more emphasis on power but it soon shifted to technique.
The 1800s to early 1900s
The wooden rackets were made of ash, maple and okume. The players had to be more physically strong as the weight ranged from 400 to 500 grams. In early stages, the racket strings were made from cow intestines which were later replaced by metal. The main drawback of a wooden racket was the difference in power which could be generated from different areas.
As round-arm bowling became legal in 1820s, there was a major change in the shape of bats. There was more emphasis on making them lighter. Later, with fast bowlers picking up pace, bats were broken more often as a single piece of wood could not deal with the impact. The new problem gave birth to handles that were made separately and then spliced on to the bats.
Bats were now made of willow. During his time, the length of a bat was also limited to 38 inches to make the game more balanced between the batter and bowler. In the 1840s, the handles were made from whalebone, commonly known as Indian rubber. These handles had a spring inserted into them. A decade later, cane was introduced in bat handles. A Nottinghamshire player, Thomas Nixon came up with the unique idea.
In 1864, over-arm bowling became legal and hence the need to make bats lighter to help batters was the need of the hour so that swinging the willow becomes easier than before. In the 1870s, english willow became the undisputed raw material in the manufacturing of a cricket bat.
The big innovation
In the 1960s, the first ever metal racket was made. The steel rackets were not just lightweight but had an increased stiffness to them as well which provided more power. Also, they were cheaper which made them more accessible.
The next big invention came when fibreglass was used as reinforcement on the frames. The new racket had more mass towards the handle which gave the player better handling and ease of playing shots. The better balance aided them to play shots from tough positions.
In 1976, Howard Head developed a racket with a larger frame. The idea behind it was that when the ball hits the middle string, it would give it more room for deformation which would ultimately lead to more energy.
However, all the innovations were the International Tennis Federation limited the size of the large heads. As per the rules, the width and hitting surface should not exceed 12.5 inches and 15.5 inches respectively.
Few years later, rackets with thicker frames became popular. In 1990s the longer rackets were introduced which had a standard length of 27 inches. These helped the players to generate more speed from their serves.
In cricket, the bats kept on getting lighter. Also, the conditions were different in the 1920s when power-hitting did not matter and the batters had to grind it out for long hours in the middle against quality swing bowling in unfavourable conditions. There were not many changes seen till the 1960s.
There were multiple innovations whether it was dividing the weight to the edges and not just the middle to provide a better hitting zone. However, the most shocking experiment came in 1979 when Australia's Dennis Lille played with an aluminum bat. Lillee could not wield it for a long time as the England captain filed a complaint.
Now, the MCC rules clearly say that only wood can be used to manufacture the bat.
Mongoose bat is another invention that came to the fore. It has been used by greats like Kapil Dev and Matthew Hayden. Opposite to the contrary belief, the bat has not been banned but as per the MCC rules , the thickness of the bat on the edges cannot exceed 40mm.
Customisation
Tennis players customise their rackets as per their needs whether it is the width and hitting surface or the string tension. In the end, everything comes down to the player's preference and whether they favour their backhand or forehand. Similarly, batters used different bats for different conditions. For power hitting, heavier bats are used whereas in conditions where pacers get extra bounce off the surface, batters tend to go for lighter bats to play hook and pull shots better.
