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London - Cricket could be facing a world shortage of bats as a result of a European Union directive, according to a report in England on Friday.
The bizarre crisis follows an EU decision to outlaw before export the chemical methyl bromide, which is an insecticide used to treat the wood in bats, because it is said to damage the ozone layer.
Each year around 100,000 raw blades made of willow, known as clefts, are exported from England to India and Pakistan where they are made into the finished product.
But the wood cannot leave the country without a fumigation certificate and India and Pakistan do not accept any alternative treatment for the wood apart from methyl bromide.
It is feared the 10 million pounds a year industry could go bust within three months unless a solution is found - potentially plunging cricket into chaos.
Geoff Watling of Anglian Willow Services told the Daily Express: "We have just been following procedures introduced many years ago by the Ministry of Agriculture. Now our entire future is under threat because of an EU directive.
"We were told a form of heat treatment can be used as an alternative but it just doesn't work. It was not a helpful solution.
"Unfortunately the Indian Government cannot allow our willow to be imported without a treatment certificate. On that basis I give our industry 12 weeks to survive. We alone have 1,400 prepared trees ready to go.
"Unless something is done we are going to run out of cricket bats. The worldwide supply of Test standard and Twenty20 bats for the national and county sides could dry up within two years."
A Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesman confirmed to the Daily Telegraph: "Under the Montreal Protocol methyl bromide was banned from 2005 in the developed world, except for quarantines, pre-shipment and critical uses.
"Methyl Bromide is no longer allowed at all from March 19, 2010."
