Who cares about grains! If the bat pings and the weight is right for you, then that is all that should matter.
For that matter, even the willow grade doesn’t matter. IMO
We should have a CBF wide drive to encourage and procure cheapest but pingiest bats. Time to do away with the day-light robbery that is the bat grading system (grains my behind!).
This is somewhat tricky.
Small business is EXTREMELY HARD to run in UK.
So the small manufactures in UK struggle to match with the prices of manufacturers in Asia where labor cost is dirt cheap and there are always loop holes to avoid business taxes.
So UK manufactured stuff will be about double the price of what you get in Asia.
There could be other extreme examples but that’s about the average difference which is a fair play.
Also, chances of pulling cheap tricks in manufacturing the bats are less likely to happen in UK made products vs Asian made bats.IMO.
UK manufacturers tend to take pride in their products while many Asian manufacturers only focus on making money.
However, when it comes to prices like £700 for a UK made bat then the price may not justify the value and performance of the bat.
Such products (not just the cricket bats but many other consumer products) become a show off symbol, or they are for those who have too much extra money to waste and they don’t care how much it costs, or sometimes it’s for those foolish buyers who believe, everything that glitters is gold.
An experienced bat purchaser will always know what to get and how much to spend.