Sorry Vic. I disagree. They're not tough enough, but they by no means allow it. That comes from experience, I had 3 meetings along with a warning from the ECB and MCC after a player used one of my bats which was illegal in nets and was caught. We had to prove the remaining of the shop bats were legal.
The same should happen with bats.
Bats should be checked prior to the game even starting (like rugby boot studs) and also when the batsmen arrive at the crease. I have had many emails with the MCC about this but it would appear from their last reply I was maybe asking them to actually do their job and they have gone silent.
easy enough to find out by checking the handle and workmanship if uv got a trained eye
Tom i may need to borrow your trained eye soon, whats the going rate ?