VOA文化艺术2022--India’s Cricket Bat Business in Danger

India’s Cricket¹ Bat Business in Danger

The best cricket bats in the world are made in England and India from willow² trees. A bat is the long stick cricket players use to hit the ball.

The bats from India are in especially high demand. That is because they are much less costly³ than the English bats.

Bats from India cost between $50 and $500, while the ones made in England cost three to four times more.

The bat factories are in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir and they employ about 100,000 people.

The area makes about 3 million bats each year. The factories have customers in 125 countries. The cricket bat business brings in about $12 million to the Indian economy. The Kashmir bats make up about 70 percent of the world market because of their lower cost.

Many of the area's factories, however, have closed because of a serious lack of willow trees.

As Indian-made bats became more popular around the world, more and more willow trees were cut down. New willow trees were not planted to replace them. Wood farmers chose to grow different kinds of wood that grow more quickly than willow trees.

Mohammad Shafi Dar is 55 years old. He is one of the skilled⁴ workers involved in making cricket bats. He takes a piece of willow and cuts it with a motorized saw. He then passes it on to another worker for the next part of the bat-making process.

Dar followed his father into the business when he was a young man. He told VOA that, for the first time, he is worried about losing his job.

"In the last couple of years," he said, "bat production has decreased." He said about six workers recently lost their jobs at his factory.

On the main highway that connects Kashmir with the main part of India, there are 400 cricket bat factories. Drivers see the pieces of willow trees gathered along the road. Fifty of the factories have closed because they do not have the wood they need.

The workers who lose their jobs do not have many other choices for work. Dar said they can become day laborers⁵, work in agriculture or become sand diggers.

Fayaz Ahmad Dar is president of the Kashmir Cricket Bat Manufacturers⁶ Union. He said the willow tree shortage⁷ started about five years ago. He said the business is almost "extinct⁸ due to complete negligence⁹." Area factories, he said, receive just half the supply they used to.

Ahmad Dar said the tree-growers in the area are planting cottonwood and poplar. Wood from those trees can be used in making plywood, which is used in the building industry. Those trees grow faster and their wood can be sold sooner. The willow trees grow more slowly.

Ahmad Dar said he has talked with the director of commerce¹⁰ and industries for the Kashmir area. He told her about cricket's growth around the world and how important the area's factories are for the sport.

Ahmad Dar said he asked that the government set aside land that could only be used for planting willow trees so that Kashmir's cricket bat business can survive.

After the meeting, the Sher-e-Kashmir University's department of agriculture sent the bat manufacturers 1,500 small willow trees to plant.

Ahmad Dar, however, said that was not nearly enough. The bat-makers need many more trees than that. He said just one bat company needs the wood from 10,000 to 15,000 trees each year in order to meet demand.

Words in This Story

extinct –adj. no longer existing

negligence –n. failure to pay attention to something

1 cricket   

n.蟋蟀，板球运动；adj.公平的

参考例句：

• The England cricket team scored quite a useful total.英格兰板球队得分总数令人满意。
• We could hear the shrill of the midsummer cricket.我们可以听到仲夏时节蟋蟀的尖叫声。
• Your behaviour isn't cricket.你的行为不光彩。

2 willow   

n.柳树

参考例句：

• The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
• The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 skilled   

adj.(in)熟练的，有技能的；需要技能的

参考例句：

• Unskilled workers usually earn less money than skilled workers.无技能的工人通常比有技能的工人挣钱少。
• She was skilled enough in French to translate a novel.她法语娴熟，足以翻译小说。

5 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

6 manufacturers   

制造商，制造厂( manufacturer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The manufacturers in some countries dumped their surplus commodities abroad. 一些国家的制造商向国外倾销过剩产品。
• Colour TV has been more aggressively promoted as more manufacturers have joined the competition. 由于更多的厂商参与竞争，推销彩色电视机的宣传更为激烈了。

7 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

8 extinct   

adj.灭绝的，不再活跃的，熄灭了的，已废弃的

参考例句：

• All hopes were extinct.所有希望都破灭了。
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。

9 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

10 commerce   

n.商业，贸易；社交

参考例句：

• Commerce binds the two countries together.贸易把这两国结合在一起。
• They drew up plans aimed at expanding commerce.他们拟定了发展商业的计划。