Bradman ‘baggy green’ cap sells for $250,000 at auction

A "baggy green” Test cap worn by Australian great Don Bradman sold for $250,000 at auction on Tuesday as collectors vied to own a rare piece of cricketing history.The tattered garment – almost 80 years old – was sun-faded, showed signs of "insect damage” and had a torn peak.Auction house Bonhams said Bradman wore the cap during India’s 1947-48 tour of Australia, his last Test series on home soil. In an auction lasting 10 minutes, a flurry of bidding pushed the price from a starting point of $160,000 to a winning offer of $250,000 (Aus$390,000).The total cost was $310,000 once "buyer’s premium” fees were tacked on. Bonhams said it was "the only known baggy green” worn by Bradman during the series, in which he scored 715 runs in six innings at an average of 178.75, with three centuries and a double-hundred.Australia’s cricketers are awarded the dark green woollen caps before Test debuts and they are revered by players and fans alike, often the more battered the better. A different "baggy green” worn by Bradman during his Test debut in 1928 fetched $290,000 when it went under the hammer in 2020.That was far less than the $650,000 paid for Shane Warne’s baggy green when he put it up for sale to help Australian bushfire victims earlier that year. 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”.He died in 2001 aged 92.Former rugby league chief named Cricket Australia bossCricket Australia named seasoned sports administrator Todd Greenberg as its new chief executive, replacing Nick Hockley after a sometimes tumultuous five-year stint. Greenberg was most recently the boss of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, representing players in negotiations with the national governing body.He is also a former chief executive of Australia’s National Rugby League. "Thanks to the work of the current administration the game has strong fundamentals in place,” Greenberg said in a Cricket Australia statement. "I want to ensure we build on this momentum so Australian cricket continues to thrive - from local parks to the nation’s biggest stadiums.”His predecessor Hockley announced his resignation in August after five tricky years in the top role. He became tangled in a bruising dispute with a major Australian TV network over cricket broadcast rights. The Englishman was also criticised over his handling of star player David Warner’s bid to overturn a leadership ban.