Moisture Control is Essential for Top English Willow Cricket Bats

Just outside Great Leighs, a village in Essex, England, halfway between Chelmsford and Braintree, sits J.S. Wright & Sons Limited, one of the world’s largest and oldest suppliers of English willow for cricket bats. Founded in 1894 by Jessie Samuel Wright, the company supplies the top-grade English willow used in bats for top batsmen worldwide.

Surrounded by woods and willow plantations, J.S. Wright & Sons operates a spacious facility equipped for sawing, drying, and storing the wood. The willows, harvested renewably, come from thousands of farmers throughout England and Wales who grow the trees as a side crop.

Essex is the center of cricket-bat willow farming in England, but the trees grow well throughout the country, where the climate and rich, moist soil with a high water table suit Salix alba var. caerulea, the willow variety preferred for cricket bats. Its light, resilient wood is well suited to hitting a ball.

Cricket-bat willow typically grows for about 15 to 20 years before it’s harvested, when the trunk reaches a girth (circumference) of about 56 to 58 inches.

Exceptional Quality Control

Jeremy Ruggles, a director of J.S. Wright & Sons and a fourth-generation family member, carefully selects only the highest grades of willow. He inspects each willow cleft by hand and eye.

The trees are bought standing in the field and felled by specialized tree fellers, then transported to the yard by truck. There, the trunks are cross cut into three or four 28-inch lengths. Next, those lengths are split lengthwise into clefts, roughly bat-shaped pieces ready to be made into bats.

An average tree yields three or four bat lengths, from which 38 to 40 clefts can be cut. The ends of the clefts are dipped in wax to prevent splitting, and the clefts are dried to reduce their moisture content (MC) and weight.

“The world’s best batsmen prefer our English willow,” says Jeremy. Cricket-bat willow is a lightweight hardwood, white to light brown in color.

Moisture Control Is Critical

Reaching the right MC is critical when preparing the clefts, so J.S. Wright dries all of its clefts in drying kilns.

When first cut, a cleft can weigh up to 22 pounds, but it loses more than half that weight as it dries. Jeremy has refined his kiln drying technique over the years, and he keeps the details confidential.

“We take special precautions in dealing with moisture. If we didn’t, the clefts would be too heavy to lift or too light and could break.”

Because pockets of moisture sometimes remain in the timber, the clefts need careful testing to make sure their MC is reasonably uniform.

Jeremy takes MC readings whenever he thinks the clefts are ready.

“I can tell by the temperature and the relative humidity in the driers that I monitor daily. They may be ready when I first check the willow or they may need 10 more days. After drying willow for 25 years, I’ve gotten the hang of it,” he says.

J.S. Wright once used pin-type moisture meters to measure the willow’s MC. But Jeremy says that took more time and effort, and the pins often broke as they were pushed into the wood.

“We went to the MMC220* pinless meter made by Wagner Meters. It’s small, compact, and easily fits in your pocket.

“To get readings we simply place the MMC220* on the surface. It’s much easier to use than a pin meter, and we’re able to take more readings in the same time while getting an average MC,” he says.

At first, Jeremy found the Wagner meter wasn’t giving the same readings as the pin meter. After he contacted Wagner for advice, the species setting on the meter was changed.

“We now get very accurate readings with the pinless meter compared to the pin meter, which is great. And it’s much easier and faster to use.

“The Wagner meter is also very good at staying in calibration. Every few months we use their calibration checker to confirm this,” he says.

Exported to Bat Makers

J.S. Wright & Sons doesn’t make the bats itself. Instead, it supplies bat makers with willow clefts. At the time of this 2019 interview, about 90% of its clefts were exported to India and Pakistan, with smaller amounts going to other countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

The bat makers complete the bat-making process. A mechanical press applies heavy pressure to the face of the blade through a roller. In its natural state, willow is a very soft timber, and pressing forms a hard, resilient layer on the surface. After that, the bat can be shaped.

New cricket bats also need “knocking in,” which hardens and conditions the surface of the blade. “This protects the bat from cracking and increases its usable life. It also improves the middle of the bat so the middle is bigger and better. If this isn’t done and a cricketer hits the ball hard with a new bat, he’s likely to damage the bat,” Jeremy says.

Many bat makers also customize bats for their customers, such as altering the length and weight of the blade, changing the length and shape of the handle, or shaping the blade with thick edges, a scalloped back, or a traditional profile.

Free Download – 6 Reasons Your Wood Project Failed

A Global Fan Base

Cricket originated in England and spread across the British Empire. Today it has more than a billion fans, according to research by the International Cricket Council, and about 90% of them are in South Asia. Besides England, India, and Pakistan, the game is popular in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

J.S. Wright estimates that about 80% of the clefts used by the top 10 cricket-playing nations come from its yard, and Jeremy credits the accuracy of the Wagner pinless moisture meter as one reason for that quality.

“Having optimum moisture content is imperative in ensuring our products meet the highest standards demanded by our customers. Our moisture meter gives us that assurance,” he says.

*The MMC220 has been replaced by Wagner’s Orion^® line of moisture meters.

Shop Orion Moisture Meters

Ron Smith

As Sales Manager for Wagner Meters, Ron has more than 35 years of experience with instrumentation and measurement systems in different industries.  In previous positions, he has served as Regional Sales Manager, Product and Projects Manager, and Sales Manager for manufacturers involved in measurement instrumentation.

Last updated on October 21st, 2026