Bradman's 1948 cap to go on show

The baggy green cap worn by Sir Donald Bradman on Australia's 1948 tour of England, including his final Test innings, will go on tour around Australia, according to Tim Serisier, the cap's owner.

The cap, which sold at auction for A$ 425,000 (US$ 275,000) in June, will go on show during this summer's Test series against India. The cap will be put on display at the Test venues of Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

The announcement was made at a lunch to mark Bradman's birthday, where Serisier said the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) would be the custodian of one of Australia's most prized pieces of sports memorabilia. Bradman, who died in Adelaide on February 25, 2001, would have turned 95 today. Serisier bought the cap after winning A$ 250,000 (US$ 160,000) on an Australian television quiz show and now wants to give other people the chance to see it.

Bradman wore the cap throughout the 1948 tour, including during his final Test century, 173 not out at Headingley, and his fateful final innings in which he made cricket's most talked-about duck. It was also revealed at the lunch that Bradman's cap was initially presented to Keith Miller, the Australian allrounder, but the pair swapped because Miller's cap did not fit.

It is yet to be announced where the cap will be kept after the tour as its home - the Australian Gallery of Sport at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - will be demolished later this year.