Spartan acts to get black bat back to Andre Russell

West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell is a big match player. He is one of the leading players when it comes to the shortest format of the game. It comes as no surprise that he has often been a part of the winning team in the popular T20 leagues. However, in the ongoing Big Bash League, he was in the news for some other reasons. He did not make the headlines for his batting and bowling but for his bat.

In a very surprising turn of events, Russell strolled on the pitch with a black and pink bat during a BBL fixture. This did not go down well with the organisers and soon the bat found itself breaching a few ground rules of cricket. Apparently, the bat was seen leaving the imprints on the ball and thereby discolouring the ball.

As per the rules, the state of the ball must not change due to any alien object in the course of the game. Andre Russell, who is currently plying his trade for the Sydney Thunder, had no option but to get back to old ways. Mr. Everard, the head of the Big Bash had then quoted that in case the bat manufacturers assure that the bat will not affect the state of the ball, they have no issues with it.

“Should Andre, or any other BBL or WBBL player for that matter, wish to use a bat with a different colouring solution to the one used last night that doesn’t result in the discolouration of the match ball, they will be permitted to do so subject to Cricket Australia being satisfied that the bat won’t compromise the integrity of the game, which we believe discolouring the match ball does,” he had quoted.

Now, the manufacturing company Spartan has come up with a modification in the bat to make it comply with the rules. The improvement was made at the Spartan headquarters. An Extratec coating was applied on the ball that would prevent the ball from any damage. Andre Russell posted a video that showed the Founder of Spartan, Mr. Kunal Sharma, demonstrate the improvement for Cricket Australia.

“Spartan is working in conjunction with Cricket Australia to meet the standard requirements for the S6R DreRuss black bat,” he quoted to cricket.com.au. “We are satisfied with the progress being made and look forward to seeing Andre Russell using the bat again in future BBL fixtures for the Sydney Thunder,” he added further.