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1843 ‘Wykhamist’ Pract. Hints Cricket 7 The secret of all good Batting..is the playing with a straight or upright Bat.

1851 W. Clarke Pract. Hints on Cricket in E. V. Lucas Hambledon Men (1907) 167 By the handle of the bat being nearer the bowler than the blade (always bearing in mind to keep it straight), the ball will be prevented from rising.

1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field iii. 36 [He] always insisted on keeping the left elbow well up; in other words, on straight play.

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 219/2 [article Cricket] ‘How beautifully straight his bat is!’ is a remark often made about a good batsman. As a matter of fact ‘upright’ would be a more correct term than ‘straight’, but ‘straight’ is the almost invariable epithet.

1944 E. Blunden Cricket Country vii. 79 He simply played the straight-bat game.

1973 Times 11 June 13/7 The British too..owed much of their greatness to their own self-esteem, and to the legend of straight bat, stiff upper lip, probity and detachment.

1975 Times 1 Dec. 5/1 Mr Wilson and Mr Callaghan intend to play a straight bat at the EEC conference.

1979 ‘J. le Carré’ Smiley's People (1980) xiv. 164 When it came to the big stuff he always played a straight bat.