[BlueLancer]

"Whether wood or metal, due to its shape the baseball bat is much better suited to use as a melee weapon than the cricket bat. Football bats, of course, are completely useless ..."

I would have to disagree with you. I keep my late wife's son's cricket bat in my office at work (as they won't allow me to bring firearms or machetes on Fort Hood) because I believe that I can inflict more immediate damage by using the edge part of the cricket bat. To my mind, even though the edge isn't sharp, it will still have an added "chopping" effect the blow.

[Leaning Right]

I keep my late wife's son's cricket bat in my office at work

That's actually a clever idea. If you keep a baseball bat in the corner of your office, you will get comments, none of them good. But if you hang a cricket bat on the wall, it becomes a curiosity only, sort of like a picture of a bowling team.

[NorthMountain]

I’d be concerned about the cricket bat turning on impact, and hitting the adversary with the flat rather than the edge. That’s not a problem with a baseball bat.

Going to war with either one is better than cringing in the corner, whimpering ... ;’} Perhaps a contest could be held ... all we need is a bunch of cooperative bad-guys.