Howzat for a bat: Cricketers carve up tree

A huge tree set to be chopped down after it was damaged in a storm has been transformed into a giant cricket bat by members of a village team in the UK.

Two men from Shobrooke Park Cricket Club in the south west county of Devon spent 18 months carving the monument after storms left just a 10 metre trunk.

The pine was planted on the boundary 125 years ago, and instead of losing part of the club’s history, Steve Jones and Bruce Kerry gave up their weekends for a year-and-a-half to do something about it, the Daily Mail reports.

And the result is incredibly impressive.

“It seemed a shame to turn such an iconic tree into firewood so we came up with the idea to carve it into a cricket bat,” Jones told the Mail.

“It has taken 18 months to complete and we used an old DF [Duncan Fearnley] bat to get the proportions right.

“It stands just over 16 feet [5 metres] high and the blade is 2 feet [60 centimetres] wide.

“It was initially carved with chainsaws, using chalk lines to guide our actions, and we finished it with electric planers.

“The base and the bat have been coated in a wood preservative and the handle was wrapped with polypropylene rope. Amazingly it required 360 feet (110 metres) of rope to wrap the handle. The top has a lead capping to keep the rain off.

“We think it should last many years and we are thrilled with it.

“As the tree is still attached to the roots, when that eventually rots we assume it will fall over.

“The plan is to cut it free before it falls, then we can move the bat around the grounds and lean it up against other trees.”

Now the structure is attracting a huge number of cricket enthusiasts to the club, while a prize awaits the first player to hit the bat with a six.