very true Tom
the indian/pakistan balls most of our guys use have rock hard centres,ive lost count of the amount of balls ive banned from bowling at me in the nets.
anyway,for the poor guy whose bat has broke-i'm pretty sure,not 100 per cent sure,Newbery will replace this for you as it's under a year old.
A nice letter or a personal visit would be the way to go.Newbery replaced mine a while back without any problem.
Newbery are pretty good with replacements in my experience
good luck,it's worth returning it direct.the shoulder stamps tell them when it's been made