Australian nice Don Bradman might be seen sporting his cap on this undated picture. — Fb/Australian Males’s Cricket Staff
SYDNEY: A “baggy green” Check cap worn by Australian nice Don Bradman bought for $250,000 at public sale on Tuesday as collectors vied to personal a uncommon piece of cricketing historical past.
The tattered garment — nearly 80 years outdated — was sun-faded, confirmed indicators of “insect damage” and had a torn peak.
Public sale home Bonhams mentioned Bradman wore the cap throughout India’s 1947-48 tour of Australia, his final Check sequence on dwelling soil.
In an public sale lasting 10 minutes, a flurry of bidding pushed the worth from a place to begin of $160,000 to a successful supply of $250,000 (Aus$390,000).
The entire price was $310,000 as soon as “buyer’s premium” charges have been tacked on.
Bonhams mentioned it was “the only known baggy green” worn by Bradman through the sequence, by which he scored 715 runs in six innings at a median of 178.75, with three centuries and a double-hundred.
Australia’s cricketers are awarded the darkish inexperienced woollen caps earlier than Check debuts and they’re revered by gamers and followers alike, typically the extra battered the higher.
A special “baggy green” worn by Bradman throughout his Check debut in 1928 fetched $290,000 when it went underneath the hammer in 2020.
That was far lower than the $650,000 paid for Shane Warne’s saggy inexperienced when he put it up on the market to assist Australian bushfire victims earlier that 12 months.
Bradman retired with an all-time-high Check batting common of 99.94 and has been described by cricket authority Wisden as the best to “have ever graced the gentleman’s game”.
He died in 2001 aged 92.
