Unfortunate for you my friend. I've just been to select a bat from a guy here in England who supplies only Asian bats, and knows his stuff about them.

I went looking for a BAS or Malik bat from him, and they looked very good too. However, he also said that SG and CA made by far the best bats, and that SG were actually making many bats for other manufacturers to be re-stickered. The bats he showed me were absolutely lovely, and a fraction of the price of english / Aussie bats.

It is possible that your friend was scammed into buying a nicely stickered SG bat that is actually a cheaper Kashmiri Willow product, which will not be of such good quality. It happens a lot with cabin crew who fly out to India and buy bats for mates from disreputable traders, and get palmed off with inferior quality, stickered up to look like the real thing.

If you've got any money left, my advice is to visit the Middlepeg website, which is an Australian site which really goes into detail about their bats, and currently offer CA bats which they rate very highly, and which are cheap too.

Hope this helps.

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I'll have the Mouseburger please, with a side of Goldfish.