The cricket bat: what Law 5 and Appendix B allow.

Handle and blade (Laws 5.1 to 5.6, 2026 edition)

Law 5.1 splits the bat into two parts, the handle and the blade. Law 5 gives the basic requirements and Appendix B the detailed specifications.

• Handle (Law 5.2). Made principally of cane and/or wood. The part wholly outside the blade, the upper portion, is a straight shaft and may be covered with a grip as Appendix B.2.2 defines it.
• Blade (Law 5.3). Everything except the handle, and it must consist solely of wood. Any commercial marks on it must meet Appendix B.6.
• Protection and repair (Law 5.4). Non-rigid material may be put on the face, sides and shoulders only to protect against or repair surface damage. Other damage may be repaired only by inserting wood, with the minimum of adhesive needed. Material may protect the toe but may not extend onto the face, back or sides.
• Damage to the ball (Law 5.5). No part of the bat, or anything on it, may be hard or textured enough to damage the ball more than the normal wear from hitting an uncovered wooden blade.
• Glove and hand (Law 5.6). For the purposes of the Laws, the ball touching the bat includes touching the batter's hand holding the bat, any part of a glove on that hand, or permitted protective material.

Size limits (Law 5.7, 2026 edition)

Law 5.7.2 also requires the bat to pass through the bat gauge in Appendix B.8. The gauge's opening is 2.68 in / 6.8 cm deep in total, 4.33 in / 11.0 cm wide, with a 1.61 in / 4.1 cm edge and a 0.20 in / 0.5 cm curve, the lower edge being an arc of radius 12.0 in / 30.5 cm. A bat must pass through it with or without permitted coverings. The bat and ball checker compares measurements with Law 5.7 but cannot test the gauge.

Where the depth and edge limits came from

The width limit of 108 mm already existed before the 2017 Code; the 2017 Code, in force from 1 October 2017, added the limits on edges (40 mm) and depth (67 mm). cricket.com.au reported in 2017 that the ICC applied the new limits to international cricket from 28 September 2017, a few days early, so that month's India and Australia ODI series was the last under the old rules. Cricket Australia applied them to all its domestic formats from the 2017-18 season. It gave umpires bat gauges but said they would not measure bats routinely before matches, only checking a bat that looked oversized, at a break in play.

The same report carried makers' statements. The bat maker Gray-Nicolls (spelled Grey-Nicolls in that report) said players had been using bats with edges up to 55 mm and depths up to 80 mm, and that some bats made for David Warner and Chris Lynn, and some retail models, were over the new limits; that is the maker's claim. Kookaburra said it was prepared, that few of its elite players were affected and that it had made gauges for its own bat-makers, also a claim.

Appendix B in brief (2026 edition)

• B.2.3, handle materials. Materials other than cane, wood or twine may make up at most one tenth of the handle's volume in Types A and B and one fifth in Types C and D, and may not reach more than 3.25 in / 8.26 cm into the lower handle.
• B.3.1, the face. The main striking surface must be flat or slightly convex from traditional pressing.
• B.3.3, covering. Types A and B may have no blade covering beyond what Law 5.4 allows; Types C and D may have a cloth covering no thicker than 0.012 in / 0.3 mm before treatment.
• B.4.1, surface treatment. Non-solid materials may be used to resist moisture or mask natural blemishes, but must not materially change the blade's colour, and may not dry into a hard layer thicker than 0.004 in / 0.01 cm.
• B.5, inserts. Toe and side inserts must be wood no thicker than 0.35 in / 0.89 cm; the toe insert may reach at most 2.5 in / 6.35 cm up the blade, and side inserts at most 1 in / 2.54 cm in from the edge.
• B.6, commercial marks. At most 0.008 in / 0.02 cm thick, covering at most half of the back, and on the face only within the top 9 in / 22.86 cm below the end of the grip.

Types A to D (Law 5.8)

A bat that fits none of Types A to D is not recognised by the Laws (Law 5.8).

The 2026 change to Type D

Under the 3rd Edition (2022), Law 5.8 limited Type D bats to junior players in junior cricket. The MCC says the 2026 edition allows them in open-age cricket, at levels each country's governing body sets. Appendix B.7 (2026) lets a Type D blade be laminated using only wood, in no more than three pieces, with one single piece forming the face, and lets it be coloured as long as Law 5.5 is respected. The 2022 Appendix B.7.1 also allowed up to three pieces of wood but did not require one single piece to form the face.

Reuters reported on 3 February 2026 that the MCC presented the change as an attempt to slow rising bat costs, since a laminated bat can put lower-quality wood behind a high-quality face so that more of the best willow is used. Reuters also reported that the MCC tested laminated bats, does not believe they give a significant performance advantage, and expects top-level bats to stay single-piece willow, and that the pieces need not be willow; the Law itself says only "wood". The background on willow is on willow and bat-making.

International cricket: Type A only

The ICC Men's One-Day International Playing Conditions (effective October 2026) and the ICC Men's Test Match Playing Conditions (effective June 2025) both say, in clause 5.8.2, that only Type A bats may be used. The wider use of Type D bats in the 2026 Laws therefore does not reach men's ODIs or Tests. The Test conditions also repeat the Law's blade limits, the gauge and the 52% handle rule in clause 5.7.

Who enforces it

Law 2.5.3 makes the umpires responsible for making sure no player uses equipment other than what is permitted. New in 2026, Law 41.17.6 says that if either umpire judges an item of equipment unfair or illegal, the umpires must act on it, preventing further use where possible and reporting it in every case. What the Laws allow to be done to a bat over its life is on bat care, named.