Jardine's cap fetches £9,600 at auction

In the same week that Don Bradman's baggy green cap, as worn during the 1946-47 Ashes series, was sold for £35,250 (US$58,500), the cap of his rival, Douglas Jardine, has fetched £9,600 (US$16,000) at an auction in Melbourne. Ironically, Jardine's cap was sold in a county where he attracted so much animosity as a result of Bodyline, while Bradman's went under the hammer in London.

Jardine's cap ended up in Australia when its owner emigrated from Lancashire over 30 years ago. It was obtained when the owner's father, a butcher, was given the cap and two bats by Surrey cricketers in return for meat which was, at the time, rationed.

"Our expectation was £6,000 to £10,000 so we were very, very pleased," a spokeswoman for the auctioneers said. "It [Jardine's cap] would never have been expected to achieve that sort of Bradman figure."