I don't think the willow merchants offer any kind of refund in this case:
''Clefts / Blades Returns Policy – A note for the finished bat consumer.
J.S.Wright and Sons Ltd. have a strict returns policy for our English Cricket Bat Willow clefts and blades. Called blades or clefts depending which country you are in.
English Cricket Bat Willow (referred to as EW) is grown commercially in the UK and has been for over 100 years. We have done everything possible to ensure the wood is in the best possible condition when sold but sometimes natural occurrences can cause issues.
The one issue that causes most of the problems are high winds that cause the trees to move a lot in the wind and sometimes to such an extent the fibres break. This is not evident in the tree or the rough sawn cleft and even after making into a bat is very hard to spot. We will not accept any returns at all for any type of natural material defect in the wood that causes splitting or breaking of the bat, it has to be accepted as a natural product and we do not feel our customers (the bat manufacturers) should have to offer replacements either.
Even without the wind damage issue bats can still break after any amount of use particularly if poor quality, cheap cricket balls are used or even the hard coaching and cricket ball bowling machine balls. We have cut open cheap balls and found plastic, glass, stones etc. in the ball, these cause a lot of issues with breaking bats, all players should ensure they are using the best quality balls for their grade of cricket especially if they are using English Willow cricket bats from a reputable manufacturer. Sometimes good quality balls can cause breaks and splits ( sometimes you see professional cricketers bats split or break), for example if a fast Yorker gets trapped between the ground and the toe of the bat there is so much force something has to give and it is generally the toe of the bat. As a raw material supplier we will not accept any claims.
We are also under tremendous pressure to supply lightweight EW clefts and blades. Please note that we dry the wood to a specific moisture content and we are not prepared to dry any lower just to lose a couple of ounces of weight, if we do this will cause even more problems with bats breaking as the more you dry the EW the more brittle it becomes. Density of each tree governs the weight of the timber with some being light and some heavy that is a natural product.
The trend for narrow grains (more than 7 in a finished bat) is also something that means bats will not last as long. The wood is older and more brittle so although it plays well with good rebound qualities as soon as it is bought, but it will not last anywhere like as long as a wide grain bat with say 4 to 6 grains. Bats from these wider grain clefts will play well eventually but will need knocking in well and more patience from the batsman. In our opinion the strongest bat you can buy which will hit the ball well is one with wider grains and the butterfly marks in, we have never seen a broken bat with butterfly stains. Good and clean bats are not necessarily the best by any means.
The general public need to be aware of these issues and if they have cause for complaint contact the manufacturer although he is under no obligation to replace the broken bat free of charge especially through natural occurrences.''
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