Not seeing the trees for the wood: willow shortage could spell end for Kashmir's cricket bat industry

The climate crisis and farmers opting to grow more lucrative timber is putting many bat-makers in Kashmir out of businessFor more than 100 years they have been making cricket bats from Kashmir's willow trees. Along the highway leading to the town of Sangam in the Indian-administered region, dozens of little workshops display neat stacks of the roughly hewn pale wood outside. Inside, the willow is painstakingly fashioned into cricket bats, which are then shipped across India and to other cricketing countries around the world.The humid environment and fertile soil make the area ideal for willows, which traditionally provide the material for cricket bats. Kashmiri willow bats have a reputation for quality and skilled bat-makers here have refined their craft since the 19th century. Continue reading...