Cricket Bat

Cricket Bat
Weapon type	Close Combat Weapon
Technical specifications
Rate of fire	0.85s per hit. 17s to kill a Tank

"I'm gonna whack the shit out of some with this."

―Nick

"I'm gonna paddle the shit outta something!"

―Coach

The Cricket Bat (also known as a Paddle Bat or simply a Paddle) is a close combat weapon featured in Left 4 Dead 2.

It spawns in the following campaigns:

• Dead Center
• Swamp Fever
• Crash Course (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Dead Air (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• The Sacrifice (Left 4 Dead 2 only)

Melee Mechanics

Bill holding Cricket Bat in "The Sacrifice"

Melee weapons replace Pistols in the secondary weapon slot. Unlike Pistols, close combat weapons never need to be reloaded and cannot run out of ammo (excluding the Chainsaw). They have two main drawbacks: a limited reach and (with a few exceptions) relatively long cooldown periods. Close combat weapons cause minimal friendly fire damage to the Survivors, even on Advanced and Expert difficulty levels (the Chainsaw is an exception).

These weapons are extremely effective. All melee weapons, on all difficulties, kill Common Infected and most Special Infected in one hit, aside from the Charger (which takes two—but see point below), the Witch (which takes four), and the Tank (which takes twenty, excluding the Chainsaw). Due to their death effects, it is generally advised to melee neither the Boomer (unless there is no choice) nor the Spitter (unless it is possible to move away immediately from the resulting acid splash).

The melee weapons appear to do more damage if an Infected's head or upper body is targeted. With the correct timing it is possible to kill a Charger with one hit while it is charging, allowing a Survivor to "level" a charge without first dealing damage to the Charger and to gain the achievement "Level a Charge".

The Cricket Bat is classified as a blunt weapon, and will splatter blood onto the screen. As a blunt weapon, it can knock an Infected's head off. Aside from causing this decapitation, it generally doesn't gib infected.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Has a decent arc of swing and attack speed, making it a reliable melee weapon for clearing Hordes.
• Has more consistent hit detection rays compared to some weapons such as the Crowbar.

Cons

• Uncommon; only found in 5 campaigns.
• Second hit has a much smaller hitbox than first hit.
• Cannot be used to cut a Smoker's tongue.
• Not recommended for killing Boomers due to bile showering the attacker and any nearby Survivors.

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

	CONFEDERACY OF CRUNCHES	(30G)
	Finish a campaign using only melee weapons.

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	HEAD HONCHO	(15G)
	Decapitate 200 Infected with a melee weapon.

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	TANK BURGER	(30G)
	Kill a Tank with melee weapons.

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	BEAT THE RUSH	(15G)
	In a Survival round, get a medal only using melee weapons.

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	CLUB DEAD	(15G)
	Use every melee weapon to kill Common Infected.

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	LEVEL A CHARGE	(15G)
	Kill a Charger with a melee weapon while they are charging.

Notes

The Australian cricket bat

• The Cricket Bat seen in-game is based on a standard wooden cricket bat used in the sport of cricket. Cricket bats are made from wood taken from the willow tree and feature a sprung handle made of compounded layers of wood and rubber to give the bat extra snap when striking a ball. Like a baseball bat, cricket bats come in different lengths and weights with a weight bias towards the lower end to maximize hitting momentum.
• Shaun, the main character of the 2004 British film Shaun of the Dead, used a cricket bat as a weapon against the zombies. The cricket bat's inclusion in Left 4 Dead 2 may be a reference to this. Since cricket is a popular sport in Britain, a common trope in British movies and publications involves characters picking up a cricket bat as an extemporized weapon before (e.g.) "investigating a noise downstairs", much in the same way Americans would think of a Baseball Bat in a similar situation.
• Nick and Rochelle are the only Survivors to identify the weapon correctly as a cricket bat. The other two Survivors refer to it as a "paddle", "paddle bat", or as Ellis calls it at some points, "that bat thing" or "a problem solver."
  • In turn, Coach's inability to identify the Cricket Bat despite his background as a gym teacher indicates he most likely never played cricket.
• The Cricket Bat has grip-tape wrapped around the blade of the bat, suggesting its previous owner did not "knock in" the bat prior to using it. Knocking in a cricket bat involves compacting the willow wood fibers of a new bat with repeated tapping of a special 'bat mallet' or cricket ball. Failure to do so can lead to the blade of an unknocked bat splitting when striking a ball or the pitch really hard.
• In the Australian version of Left 4 Dead 2, the Cricket Bat has a Southern Cross on the bat and the dates of when Australia has won The Ashes, a Test cricket series held between Australia and England.