Bradman’s Baggy Green sells for $460k at Australia Day auction
The baggy green cap of cricketing icon Sir Donald Bradman has sold for a motza at an Australia Day auction – but have you ever wondered why ‘The Don’ is such an enduring Aussie legend?
READING LEVEL: GREEN
A hat belonging to one of Australia’s greatest sporting icons* has sold at auction for almost half a million dollars.
A rare Baggy Green* cap once worn by legendary cricketer Sir Donald Bradman was sold for an eye watering $460,000 on Australia Day.
Bradman had worn the cap before gifting it to Indian test cricketer S.W. Sohoni during the 1947-48 Australia-India test series.
Since then, the cap passed through three generations of Mr Sohoni’s family without ever being publicly displayed or sold.
Bradman had an incredible batting average of 99.94 when retiring in 1948 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time.
His legacy is deeply embedded in Australia’s sporting and cultural identity.
Lloyds Auction chief operations officer Lee Hames said bidders at the auction were very interested in the baggy green because it was rare and a “genuine piece of cricket history”.
“Its uninterrupted family ownership for 75 years and its direct link to ‘The Don’ make it one of the most important Bradman-related pieces to come to auction,” he said.
“Closing on Australia Day gives it special national resonance* for collectors honouring our sporting heritage.”
The bidding started at just $1 in December before closing at $460,000 on January 26.
It was not the first time that one of Bradman’s legendary caps sold for a staggering price.
According to Cricket Australia, a previous piece of memorabilia* from Bradman’s debut* season article sold for $450k in 2020.
HOW BRADMAN BECAME AN AUSSIE LEGEND
Donald Bradman was such a sensational batsman that even though he retired almost 80 years ago, he is still regarded as one of the greatest of all time.
As a child, he developed his precise co-ordination by hitting a golf ball against a water tank with a shortened cricket stump for fun. By the time he was 12, he had played cricket for the senior school team in his home town of Bowral in southern NSW. In the second game he scored 115 not out* from a team total of 150 – and he took eight wickets. It was clear the boy had more than just talent – he was a cricket powerhouse.
Bradman went on to show his sporting genius by breaking several records as a young adult. In 1928 he was selected to play test cricket for Australia against England. In the third test against the Brits in Melbourne he became the youngest player to score a test century* with 112 runs in the second innings.
He really blew the socks off the cricketing world in 1930, however, when he broke the world batting record for the highest score in first-class cricket during a Sheffield Shield match between NSW and Queensland at the SCG. At the age of 21, Bradman scored 452 not out in just 415 minutes. The record had previously been held by Bill Ponsford, who had scored 437 in 621 minutes. Bradman scored one thousand runs in total during that season.
The first time Bradman played in England, which was during the 1930 Ashes tour, he scored 236 runs and became the youngest overseas player to score a double century in England.
Bradman smashed the Ashes, scoring 131 in the first test, 254 in the second test and broke the world test batting record with 334 in the third test – of which 309 runs were scored in one day. In the fifth test, he scored 232. Bradman had a series test aggregate of 974 at an average of 139.14. To this day, the combined runs scored by Bradman remains the highest ever scored in a single series.
Bradman also captained the Australian team 24 times, including in 1948 when the Aussies were known as “The Invincibles” – the greatest Australian team to play overseas. The Australian team broke records by winning four out of five tests.
Bradman finished his test career with 6,996 runs, giving him an average of 99.94. If he had just gotten four more runs he would have finished with an average of 100.
But unfortunately, in his final innings, he was dismissed for a second-ball duck* by English bowler Eric Hollies and he was out of the game.
In 1949 Bradman became the first Australian cricketer to be knighted. In 1979 he received a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) and in 1996 he made it into the Cricket Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2001 at the age of 92.
To this day, no cricketer has lived up to the legend of “The Don”. Many of his records remain unbroken and his average is far greater than many of today’s best. He has also remained a cultural icon for many Australians. Bradman has truly become an immortal* of Australian cricket.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- icons: people who have become symbolic of a sport or culture
- Baggy Green: a dark green, woollen hat worn by the Australian test cricket team
- resonance: having a lasting or meaningful effect
- memorabilia: objects collected because of their association with sports, people and/or events
- debut: first time
- not out: when a batsman makes it through the whole innings without being dismissed
- century: a score of 100 or more runs in a single innings by a batter
- duck: the dismissal of a batter for zero runs
- immortal: one of the greatest to have played the game
EXTRA READING
Big bucks for Bradman’s baggy green
Lasers uncover secrets of Don Bradman’s first bat
Top controversies to hit the Ashes
QUICK QUIZ
1. What was Bradman’s batting average when he retired?
2. How did he develop his precise co-ordination as a child?
3. In what year was he selected to play test cricket for Australia against England?
4. How many times did he captain the Australian test cricket team?
5. How many runs did Bradman score all up during the 1930 Ashes in England?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. If a Baggy Green could talk …
Give this sold baggy green a voice about what it has seen and witnessed with its past owner, the great Sir Donald Bradman.
Write in the format of a short speech introducing yourself (the hat) for sale and what it means as a piece of Australian sports history.
Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
What do you think the most impressive thing is about Sir Donald Bradman’s career after reading the Kids News article?
Do you think any future cricketer will match his records?
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Read with Kung Fu punctuation
Pair up with the article between you and stand up to make it easy to demonstrate your Kung Fu punctuation.
Practise reading one sentence at a time. Now read it again, while acting out the punctuation as you read.
Read and act three sentences before swapping with your partner.
Take two turns each.
Now ask your partner to read a sentence out loud while you try and act out the punctuation. Can you keep up? Swap over?
Try acting out two sentences – are you laughing yet?