A recent study published in the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology says that replacing willow with bamboo could make the sweet-spot even sweeter.

A research conducted by Darshil Shah and Ben Tinkler-Davies of Cambridge University noted that prototype bats made out of laminated bamboo were 40 per cent heavier and more robust than those made from the traditional willow. It means batsmen will be able to hit the ball much harder because these bats have a bigger sweet spot.

They have also found that the bamboo bat is 22% stiffer than the willow variant, which increases the speed at which the ball leaves the bat. Despite the inherent advantages it provides to batsmen, what makes bamboo bats such a tantalising option is that it’s more sustainable and cheaper when compared with the English willow.

The researchers have claimed that there’s a paucity of willow since these trees typically take around 15 years to mature. In contrast, bamboo, which is grass, takes only seven years to reach maturity, and is found in abundance in China and parts of South-East Asia.