SYDNEY: An Australian businessman has purchased the baggy green cap that the late Australian all-time cricketing great Donald Bradman wore on his Test debut against England in 1928 for A$450,000 ($340,000) at auction, the second-highest price paid for a piece of cricket memorabilia.
Peter Freedman, founder of Rode Microphones, who earlier this year paid A$9 million ($6.8 million) at an auction for a guitar used by Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, plans to tour Bradman’s Test debut cap around Australia, PTI reports.
The auction of former Australia leg spinner Shane Warne’s baggy green cap towards relief efforts for those affected by the bushfires that ravaged the country earlier this year, which fetched A$1,007,500 ($760,000), holds the world record in this category.
Bradman represented Australia for 20 years, playing 52 Test matches from 1928 to 1948, and is generally regarded as the world’s best-ever cricketer.
Knighted for his services to cricket in 1949, he retired from Test cricket with a batting average of 99.94, making his test batting achievements nearly twice that of the nearest batsman in the longer version of the game.
“Sir Don Bradman is an Aussie legend,” Freedman said on Tuesday.
“Not only as one of our greatest talents on the sporting field and one of the most revered athletes of all time, but as an icon of Australian fortitude and resilience.”
“I have some exciting plans for the baggy green that will see it travel the country and shared with sports fans and cricketing communities”
Honours list of cricket accessories sold at an auction:
1. Don Bradman’s Test cap worn by him in his last Test – £170,000 in 2003
2. MS Dhoni’s match-winning bat from the 2011 WC final – £100,000 in 2011
3. Complete set of John Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanacks – £84,000 in 2008
4. Gary Sobers’ bat to hit 6 sixes – £54,257 in 2000
5. Sobers’ bat with which he hit 365* against Pakistan – £47,475 in 2000
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Bradman’s ‘Baggy Green’ from 1928 Test debut to be auctioned
