Sport

Black cricket bats unveiled for $20m match

Black bat 108 Less than six months after the infamous pink cricket ball known as The Duke's Ball was used for the first time at Lord's, Slazenger has revealed another new twist on for the game - a black bat.

The bat will be used by all players when England face off against the West Indies on November 1 in the $20 million, winner take all, Twenty20 cup one day cup match. But it is already causing controversy.

The bats, which are trademark of the Stanford 2020 competition, were declared illegal for play in the UK days before their official announcement when Lord's governing body, the MCC introduced a ruling to only allow natural wood coloured bats.

The MCC's motivation for this was to prevent players and manufacturers from tampering with their equipment or adding illegal technological improvements.

Big money batting
The $20 million match is coming.

Sir Allen Stanford, the founder and financer of the Stanford competition, was undaunted by this decision as his all star cup match will take place in Antigua.

England batsman Paul Collingwood, who has been picked for the England side said on the matter: "It is going to be an exciting match for everyone and having black bats adds to that sense of something different.

"Our kit and bats are very important to us and it was actually after getting a new bat mid summer that things really started to turn round on the pitch for me. Hopefully that will continue for a one-off performance with these black bats."