Sir Don Bradman’s History-Making Bat Sold For Record-Breaking Amount Auction, Becomes World’s Most Expensive Cricket Willow

Delhi: Sir Donald Bradman’s history-making bat which he used in the 1934 Ashes series (against England) is now the most expensive cricket bat in the world after selling at auction. Using that iconic piece of willow, Sir Bradman hammered two triple-centuries and also used the bat to score during the highest-ever Test partnership of 451 runs with opening batter Bill Ponsford. On Tuesday, during an online bidding war – Bradman’s blade was sold for a whopping price of almost $250,000 (approximately – 1 crore and 90 lakhs in INR).

Interestingly, the bat is likely to remain at what is now known as the International Cricket Hall of Fame (ICHF) despite its private sale to an unnamed buyer. The bat has been on display at the Bradman Museum in Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands since 1999, on loan from a private owner.

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The William Sykes and Son bat was used in all the five-Test matches of the Ashes in England where Bradman amassed a total of 758 runs.

Bradman, who had scored 6996 runs from 52 Tests at an astounding average of 99.94, wrote his top scores from the series on the bat, including 304 at Headingley and 244 at the Oval. “It’s provenance is indisputable,” museum Executive Director Rina Hore was quoted as saying by abc.net.au.

“Sir Donald has actually written in his own handwriting the fact that he made those scores with this bat.

“I think it is a treasure.”

According to the report, there is no reserve price for the bat. Another of Bradman’s bats sold for Australian dollar 110,000 in 2018.

Bradman used that bat after the Bodyline series in Australia. The tactic was employed by the British to counter the prolific run-scoring of Bradman.

The William Sykes & Son ‘Don Bradman’ bat was used by Bradman during the 1934 tour.

He later signed it: “This is the bat with which I scored 304 at Leeds and 244 at The Oval against England, 1934”.

The 304 at Headingley was Bradman’s second-highest score. During his record-breaking second-wicket partnership of 451 runs with Ponsford (266), the legendary Aussie scored 244 with that bat.

The record was later broken in 1997-98 by Sri-Lankan pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama, who posted 576 runs against India.