Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Sir Donald Bradman (1908-2001)
given to Pankaj 'Peter' Kumar Gupta (1898-1971), Indian Tour Manager in 1948
Probir Kumar Sen (1926-1970), wicket-keeper and his nephew-in-law
passed to a fellow cricketer in India by Sen prior to his death
Ludgrove's, Melbourne, 23 February 2003
Private Collection; on display at The Bradman Museum, Bowral, New South Wales, Australia, 2010-February 2023



The baggy green, awarded to Australian Test cricketers since the turn of the twentieth century, has taken on iconic status, and never more so when the owner was the most successful Australian batter of all time. The present cap was worn by Bradman in the 1947-48 series against India, an important series which saw India playing for the first time abroad as an independent country and with Bradman scoring his hundredth hundred, the first Australian to do so. It was also to be the last series played by Bradman on Australian soil. This cap is the only known baggy green from this series.

The Indian Independence Act, by which India achieved independence from British rule and India and Pakistan were partitioned, was passed on 14 August 1947. Just two months later, India's first national cricket team under the captainship of Lala Amarnath embarked on its inaugural tour of Australia, comprising a five-match Test series and nine first-class matches: '...the Indians represented a country which had only recently come into being – and had been born in conditions which can only be described as murderous. Indeed, one of the team originally picked, Fazal Mahmood, was forced to drop out since, living in Lahore, he was deemed to be Pakistani...' (Charles Williams, Bradman, An Australian Hero, p.218). Politics were to encroach on this momentous sporting occasion at the end of January 1948. The fifth and final Test at Melbourne was marred by the shocking news of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January. The team was devastated but played on. '...The Indian manager, Pankaj Gupta, said, 'We have been stunned. None of us could get any sleep last night. We just sat around sadly listening to the All-India radio. Some of us wept at the news.'... As Mr. Gupta explained, Gandhi's death was 'a national catastrophe, and it was difficult for the team to adjust themselves and recapture the incentive to win'. The Indian team, as well as the Australian team led by Sir Donald Bradman, observed a minute's silence before play began...' (Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Hindustan Times online, 10 July 2023).

The Indian side did achieve two victories in the First Class matches, including the famous match where Bradman made his record-breaking century but, despite some good individual performances, the Indians were on the whole outclassed by the experienced Australian side. The Indians had no illusions about the contest right from the start. They had lost their best batsman, Vijay Merchant, to injury and the wet playing conditions proved to be tricky for the tourists, but they took a pragmatic approach to proceedings. Pankaj Gupta, the Indian tour manager, to whom this cap was given, was quoted in the contemporary press on arrival: '..."they would prefer to lose every match and see Bradman play than win every match and not see him". Another Indian said "we hope he will get his century of centuries against us... It's a game and we are going to enjoy it". The Indians impress immediately as men passionately fond of the game for its own sake... Australian wickets will probably take some getting used to... Indian cricket is all played on matting, because as one member said sorrowfully, "we can't afford the water from the more important business of growing food". They are keenly interested in water and several asked about Darwin's water supply....' (The Bradman Albums: Selections from Sir Donald Bradman's Official Collection, Volume 2 1935-1949, London, 1987, p.663).

The series began well for the Indian side, and the press were full of praise for the batting of V.S. Hazare during the match against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval, where he achieved a 150 partnership with V. Mankad, noting in particular the high scoring rate and their style of play '...they scored their 224 runs today in 210 minutes, when most teams would have been inclined to take no risks...' (Bradman Albums, p.666). The Test, however, was beset by bad weather. At the First Test at Brisbane, the ball had to be wiped before each delivery and newspapers reported that angry spectators demanded their money back and had to be subdued by police when a wet wicket delayed the game for nearly four hours. Disagreement by the Captains as to whether to proceed had to be resolved by the umpires: '...there was widespread hooting as Bradman and Miller entered... Scores of barrackers shouted encouraging cries to the Indian bowlers. Some called "out" as Bradman pushed at a ball from Mankad. Counter-cheers came from a greater number when Bradman scored his first single...' (Bradman Albums, p.676). The wicket was so wet the following day it was sprouting mushrooms '..."these will do for the staff's breakfast or the members' lunch" said "attractive, courteous" Mrs McLean, head of the Gabba catering staff...' (Bradman Albums, p.677). Missed chances seemed to be the order of the day. Bradman later put this down to their lack of a good fast bowler or a good spinner, and surprisingly poor fielding. One commentator noted '...they gave such a shocking exhibition of fielding... No fewer than four lollypop chances were missed... that any schoolboy would have held...' (Bradman Albums, p.687).

Another notable incident in the Second Test at Sydney led to the creation of the Mankad Rule and the informal term, Mankading, after the Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad. Mankad's controversial dismissal of Brown, batting at the non-striker's end, raised now familiar questions of playing within the 'spirit of the game': '...Brown was once more run out by Mankad, who, in the act of delivering the ball, held onto it and whipped the bails off with Brown well out of his crease. This had happened in the Indian match against Queensland, and immediately in some quarters Mankad's sportsmanship was questioned... I always... keep my bat behind the crease until I see the ball in the air. In that way one cannot possibly be run out, and I commend this practice to other players...' (Don Bradman, Farewell to Cricket, 1950, p.146-7). The unspoken rule was that the bowler should warn a player before attempting this form of run out, and the failure to do this can be the source of much ill feeling. A new law introduced in January 2023 deemed this a legitimate mode of dismissal.

Bradman passed many milestones in his career but the 100th first-class century is ranked as one of his highest achievements, his 'magic milestone' as he put it. Only 25 cricketers, the majority of them England players, have achieved a similar feat, including W.G. Grace, Geoffrey Boycott, Graham Gooch, Mark Ramprakash, Zaheer Abbas and Viv Richards. Bradman was the first non-English batter to achieve the feat, made even more impressive by never having played for an English county side and therefore unable to take advantage of the larger number of games in the English season. Bradman had scored his 99th century in 203 first-class matches just a week earlier for South Australia against Victoria, and expectations were high in a packed ground at Sydney on 17 November 1947. Chasing an impressive Indian score of 326, Bradman was put in early in the day with his team at 1 for 11, and by tea stood at 99, having survived a loud appeal from the Indians for LBW at 80 runs. With only run one needed to make history '...Amarnath, in a surprising manoeuvre, threw the ball to Kishenchand. Bradman later called it a brilliant move. He had never faced Kishenchand before, and neither had he seen him bowl. A tower of strength with the bat in domestic cricket, Kishenchand sometimes bowled decent leg-breaks. And he was bubbling with confidence after his unbeaten 75. Bradman played the first few balls with utmost respect before driving one to the right of mid-on and rushing across for his century. He raised his bat and the ground erupted...' (Arunabha Sengupta, 'Don Bradman's 100th First-Class Hundred', cricketcountry.com online). Bradman went on to score a total of 172 unbeaten runs in that innings to take Australia to 380. It was not enough, however, to prevent an overall win for India in the third innings by 47 runs. Film footage of the moment shows a jubilant Bradman holding bat and cap aloft in celebration.

Bradman later recalled '...we played the most attractive cricket possible, and the public who saw the matches found them just as enjoyable as the closer and more serious contests against England... one of my most pleasant cricket years...' (Bradman, p.143.). By all accounts Bradman seems to have mellowed somewhat throughout the tour and made a point of visiting the Indian dressing room at the end of play to offer advice and encouragement. He was well known to be generous with his cricket equipment and apparel, so it was characteristic of him to give his baggy green to Indian tour manager Pankaj Gupta after such a momentous series. Gupta was one of the earliest Indian sports administrators, and also held high ranking official positions in football and hockey, where he earned the sobriquet 'Mr Hockey'. He also accompanied the Indian cricket side to England in 1946 and 1952 and to Australia in 1947-48. Bradman described in as a '...famous personality... He loved hockey, and wherever an Indian hockey team went he was almost sure to be found. Amongst his other qualifications was journalism. Perhaps this accounted for the extremely forthright attitude he took towards the Australian Press the moment he set foot on Australian soil... I found Amarnath [the Captain] and Peter Gupta absolutely charming in every respect. They co-operated in all conceivable ways to try and make the games enjoyable, and the most wonderful spirit of camaraderie existed between the Australian and Indian players...' (Bradman, p.142).

Gupta in turn passed the cap to Bengali wicket-keeper Probir Kumar Sen, who married Gupta's niece Reena in 1948. Sen represented his country in 14 Tests from 1948-1952, the first Bengali to do so and acted as reserve keeper to Jenni Irani in the 1947-48 Australian tour. He made his Test debut at Melbourne on New Year's Day in 1948 and took four catches in the Fifth Test, having the distinction of being the only Indian wicket-keeper to stump Don Bradman, which he did in a four-day match in South Australia at Adelaide in 1947-48. Later in his career he played a notable part in India's first Test victory over England at Madras in 1951-52 as well as being one of only two wicket-keepers to have taken hat-tricks in first-class cricket, playing for Bengal against Orissa at Cuttack in 1954-55, when he also scored a century with the bat. The P. Sen Memorial Invitation Tournament is still played annually in Kolkata.

Originally, the baggy green took the form of a skull cap, similar to those worn in England, but from 1920 it assumed its recognisable 'baggy' style. The present cap was made by Farmer's of Sydney, who took over the manufacture of the baggy green from Harding's Mercery in 1930, and initiated some design changes including the addition of the dates beneath the motto. At this time, before the advent of embroidery machines, the sewing was done by hand as is seen here, which leads to small individual design variations such as the shape and size of the kangaroo and emu. The minutes of Australian cricket's administrative body for September 1946 notes the cost of the cap at 11 shillings and sixpence (Fahey, p.48). For a detailed survey of the cap's development and importance see Michael Fahey and Mike Coward's, The Baggy Green: The Pride, Passion and History of Australia's sporting icon, 2008.



Please note this lot is subject to the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 and the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Regulations 1987. Domestic transport within Australia is permitted only.