All these tests are a bit of a farce IMO, cricket bats are such a subjective item that it's almost impossible to have a fair test
Literally the only way I can suggest would be if all brands had to submit bats at the exact same weight, but even then the grain structure would just get pulled apart instead...
Right. Also, the tests should not factor in value for money, looks, first impressions etc etc, these are silly and highly subjective. They should not have a lower performing bat at lower price, ranked higher than a better performing bat at higher price on basis of value for money as many folks are only interested in performance/pickup and they dont like to see a top performing bat ranked lower as it got low marks on value for money etc.
The ranking can be really simple and effective if they strictly test bats at same weight and have ratings only for performance and pickup, nothing else. Based on these two, the reader can decide which is value to him or not himself considering the other factors such as price , looks etc. Alternatively, if they want to include price, then they should have separate rankings for each of the price ranges, but that should be it.