SYDNEY: A cap worn by Australia’s greatest batsman Don Bradman will be auctioned in Sydney on Tuesday, with the tattered “baggy green” expected to fetch as much as US$260,000.

Bradman donned the woollen cap during India’s 1947-48 tour of Australia, which marked the touring side’s first Tests on foreign soil after gaining independence.

Auction house Bonhams said it was “the only known baggy green” worn by Bradman during one of his most prolific series.

Bradman scored 715 runs in six innings against the tourists at an average of 178.75, with three centuries and a double-hundred.

Australia’s Test cricketers are awarded the dark green caps, which are revered by players and fans.

Despite considerable fading, signs of insect damage and a torn peak, Bonhams expect the cap to fetch between US$195,000 and US$260,000.

Bradman retired with an all-time high Test batting average of 99.94, and has been described by cricket authority Wisden as the greatest to “have ever graced the gentleman’s game”.

A different “baggy green” worn by Bradman during his Test debut in 1928 fetched US$290,000 in 2020 — a then-record for one of the cricket legend’s caps.

But that was far less than the US$650,000 paid for spin legend Shane Warne’s baggy green when he put it up for sale to help Australian bushfire victims earlier that year.

Bradman died in 2001 aged 92 and Warne passed away in 2022 aged 52.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2024