Just a quick update.
After a couple of hours knocking in & a very light oiling, I took the Joker to our last indoor nets.
I used it for about 5-10 mins against the spinners & some gentle medium pacers and was just blocking with the occasional gentle straight drive. All in all it seems good! Its a little lighter than my usual net bat, so my timing was a little off, but when i did time it, it went well.
It defo needs more knocking/playing in though, and being quite a wide grain I'd imagine it'll take some time to come to life properly.
The slightly narrower face seemed to make no difference whatsoever, in fact, I'd forgotten it was narrower until i started typing this!