KEY POINTS:
A revolutionary half-rubber bat is helping raise the quality of fielding drills for the touring England cricket team.
Balls hit with the rubber bat are drawing gasps from the public who turn up to watch and receiving envious looks from opposition coaches, the Times newspaper in London reported.
"If difficult catches start to be taken routinely, some of the credit will go to the instrument patented as the Skyer," it said.
The bat was invented by James Cornford, a former minor counties player. Mark Garaway, an England analyst, helped to refine it to a standard where it is now a fixture in the team kitbag.
After more than a year of tests, it will go on sale to English cricket clubs next month through Fusion Sports, a company set up by Cornford.
The Skyer is chunky, bright orange, tapered at the top of the blade and weighs about 1kg. Made with a 25mm thick, rubber-based compound cut into the blade of a normal bat, it can hit balls higher, further and more accurately.
"We tested hundreds of pieces of rubber before we were finally happy with the spring," Garaway said.
"Anything harder acts like a regular bat and anything softer makes the ball stick for too long".
As a bit of fun, Kevin Pietersen is trying from the middle to clear the main stand of each leading ground where England practise on their tour of New Zealand.
Last summer he managed to hit a ball from the Nursery Ground at Lord's over the media centre and on to the main pitch, while a shot at Eden Park in Auckland the day before the recent Twenty20 international surprised even Garaway.
A more practical application was evident in a quiet corner of Seddon Park in Hamilton as England prepared for the second one-day international against New Zealand today.
Garaway was able to hit about 20 catches in 10 minutes to the exact place requested by Tim Ambrose, the wicketkeeper.
"However good you are, there is always something slightly hit and miss with normal bats," Garaway said.
"If I want to make Alastair Cook run 30 yards (about 27m) to his left - because that is an area we are working on - I can deliver the drill on a consistent basis".
"Twenty20 batsmen are hitting flatter and harder and I can now hit flat all the way to the boundary. We can simulate catching just in front of the rope, where the fielder releases the ball before he topples over and then comes back to complete the catch. That was a very hard drill to set up."
"This bat would not be great for bowlers," Garaway said.
"Even defensive shots get pinged back like serious drives".
Fusion Sports also developed a ridged mat, which helps batsmen and wicketkeepers by simulating the effect of seam movement. It was used by England in Loughborough before they flew to New Zealand.
- NZPA
