Kookaburra withdraws graphite bat

Kookaburra's graphite bat

The ICC has announced that Kookaburra, the Australian bat manufacturer, have agreed to the immediate voluntary withdrawal of its graphite reinforced bat from international cricket.

The offer was made after the ICC informed Kookaburra that it had received an opinion from MCC, the guardian of the Laws of Cricket, that the bat contravened Law 6 and, in the MCC's view, was illegal.

With several players in the world - including Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Nathan Astle and Sanath Jayasuriya - currently or soon to participate in international cricket matches, Kookaburra has undertaken to re-supply all international cricketers with alternate bats as soon as possible and the ICC has accepted its assurances that this will be done with all possible speed.

But Brett Elliott, Kookaburra's MD, said that the company was "extremely disappointed by the MCC's opinion and strongly disagree that our graphite covered cricket bats do not comply with Law 6." He continued: "It is the opinion of three leading independent experts that the bats in question do not contravene the laws of the game. Furthermore, since the launch of our graphite covered bats in December 2004, numerous international players have used the bat without issue. For example, Ricky Ponting has used the bat in 53 ODI and Test matches without complaint from opposition players or umpires.

"However, Kookaburra fully respects both the Laws and the Spirit of Cricket and has therefore reached agreement with the ICC to voluntarily withdraw the bats from international cricket. We will supply all our international cricketers with replacement bats and will immediately undertake a full review of the evidence used by the MCC before deciding on the next course of action."

Sam Halvorsen, Ponting's manager, said changing his bat would not make a difference to Ponting, who scored 1,544 Test runs at an average of 67.13 in 2005 - the second highest calendar year tally in history - then opened 2006 with twin centuries in Sydney in his 100th Test.

"If Kookaburra no longer can provide the bat that he's been using they'll have to provide him another one," Halvorsen told AFP. "It won't have the graphite strip on the back - it'll have something else - but it will be the exact same bat and it will perform exactly the same as the bat he's been using. The notion that the graphite enhances performance is just a complete furphy (untrue)."