OUR WILLOW GRADE EXPLAINED
Here at B3 Cricket we only make our bats out of the very finest English willow sourced from the world’s top willow merchants, J.S. Wright & Sons.
We only take their top 3 grades and do not use inferior grades. This policy protects B3 customers and ensures the highest quality finish and performance when choosing B3 cricket bats.
Below we explain the differences in willow grades. Please note, Standard Grades are always available but Exclusive Grades are limited and therefore subject to availability.
B3 STANDARD GRADES
ELITE PLUS
GRADE ONE ENGLISH WILLOW
Our Elite Plus bats are made from the finest Grade 1 English willow available and come from the top 10% of genuine English willow.
A Elite Plus blade will have 6 or more predominantly straight grains and have minimum blemishes. It may also contain up to 1.75 inches of colour on one edge.
Each Elite Plus is “Ping Tested” by our expert bat makers, for optimum performance.
ELITE
GRADE TWO ENGLISH WILLOW
Our Elite bats are made from the highest quality Grade 2 English willow, which comes from the top 10% to 20% of genuine English willow.
A Elite blade will have 6 or more grains, but these may not be perfectly straight. The blade may also contain some blemishes, but these won’t affect the performance of the bat.
Our Elite bats are all “Ping Tested” for optimum performance, perform superbly and represent fantastic value for money for the discerning cricketer!
EXCEL
GRADE THREE ENGLISH WILLOW
Our entry level Excel bats are made from Grade 3 English willow.
Each bat will contain at least 5 grains but may not be straight in every case and will usually contain more cosmetic blemishes than the higher grades.
However, these are all completely natural and only affect the bats appearance and not performance.
EXCLUSIVE GRADES
The following grades are limited. If you are looking for something outside of our Standard Grades of willow, please talk to us and we will always try and accommodate.
ELITE LE
LE stands for Limited Edition and represents some of the rarest and finest (top 1%) of the Grade 1 English willow available.
An LE blade will have 6 or more good, straight, and even grains with zero or very minor blemishes in the playing area and no more than 1 inch of colour on one edge.
ELITE PRO
Our Elite Pro Grade clefts are selected by our expert bat makers for their natural low density and performance. Due to their rarity, only 5% of willow meets this criteria and are subject to availability.
Notably, these clefts are naturally low in density, and B3 DO NOT force dry any clefts to achieve lower weights. From our experience, this can cause brittle bats, which can be subject to poor performance and more liable to breakage. Pro Grade bats may have some imperfections aesthetically but will perform equal to our Elite Plus and LE grades.