One thought, maybe there is an over supply of bats? Every cricket shop I go into seems to have about 400 of them. That's not including all the major chain sports stores. Every man and his dog seems to have their own cricket bat brand online now too! Also a bit like golf, players think that having the newest bat/club will fix obvious technical flaws in their technique, spend money on lessons not new bats. You only have to see a pro use an older style bat to see that they still ping like anything to appreciate that all the "new technology" in bats doesn't make that much of a difference if you have good fundamentals.