it was the first use, so could only have been 3 weeks old- a month at most, sent it off for repair about a week later, got it back after 3 weeks, then havnt played any cricket since, first net was today and the cracks came lol, thanks for the advice guys. Btw, i am pretty sure the seam marks are from when i got the bat back from repair and i bounced a brand spanking new ball on it, after about 1-2 hours of knocking it in, and bcoz its so soft i think the came from that, because from all the marks from where i hit the ball today there are no seam marks just cherries-well not even cherres just like grey shading haha