Swampy baggy green for sale
A baggy green piece of WA sporting history and international cricket lore will go under the auctioneer's hammer in Melbourne this month.
Over five hot and humid days in Madras, Australia and India slugged it out in the famous first Test of the 1986 series.
In the dying minutes of day five, with India cruising to victory and 30,000 fans celebrating in the stands, the tourists snared the last four wickets for just 16 runs.
It remains one of only two tied Tests in the sport's 137-year history.
WA's Geoff Marsh - the 333rd man to earn the baggy green - opened the batting for Australia in that match and averaged 33 runs for the series, including a century in the final Test.
He played 50 Tests and 117 one-day internationals before coaching Australia to victory in the 1999 World Cup.
The baggy green Marsh was given for the 1986 tour of India will be available to the highest bidder on February 25.
Max Williamson from Mossgreen Auctions said the cap's last owner was the late Keith Attree, a former WACA dressing room attendant. "Keith used to look after the visiting teams at the WACA and he put together probably the best collection of cricket caps in the world," Mr Williamson said.
"He had a special room in his house where he had all his cricket caps on display. 'Swampy' was one of his particular favourites, I think."
It's estimated the cap will sell for between $8000 and $10,000 but, given the history, Mr Williamson expects it to fetch more.
"We still only get three or four baggy greens a year and every cricket collector wants one," he said.
"They're very revered by the players and they're very easy to display.
"Geoff Marsh went on to coach Australia as well and not many players can claim that."
Every cricket collector wants one."Max Williamson, Mossgreen Auctions
