Bradman cap may break auction record.

Bradman cap may break auction record
Indo Asian News Service, December 01, 2008

Sydney, Dec 1(IANS): The `Baggy Green´ cap won by legendary Don Bradman on the 1948 `Invincibles´ Ashes tour has been placed an estimated price of $600,000 to $750,000 by its auctioneer and could well break the auction record.

`I defy anybody who tells me anything in Australian sport that is more important or has a higher status,´ auctioneer Charles Leski was quoted as saying the Sydney Morning Herald. The auction is set to take place Dec 15.

`This is the single most valuable item we've ever auctioned - sporting, Australiana, across the board,´ Leski said.

The cap is accompanied by a memo signed by Bradman in 1996, declaring `on his twelfth birthday I gave Richard Robins one of my Aust. XI caps´.

Robins´s father, Walter, played 19 Tests for England and was described by Bradman as his `best pal in the cricket world´ - despite bowling the great man with a googly to which Bradman offered no shot in the 1930 Trent Bridge Test.

Serisier, a 47-year-old retired banker from Coffs Harbour, bought it prior to auction in 2003, amid a campaign to return it to Australia.

A Bradman bat was recently sold for a world record $145,000.

Legal action might be the only option - Kapil

New innovations at ICL? Kapil Dev said the umpire review system, which the ICC is now trialling, was started by the ICL. They also have some more innovations in the pipeline. "We also plan to award nine runs for a 90-yard hit," he said. "And we are thinking about abolishing overthrows if there is a direct hit while going for a run-out."

Kapil Dev, the ICL chairman, has said taking legal action would be the only option left if the ICC doesn't respond to the league's bid for official recognition at its next board meeting, possibly in November. The ICL had issued a letter to the ICC to convene a board meeting after the talks with the BCCI failed.

"I think we are on very good ground as far as a legal case goes," Kapil said. "Eventually we will do that [take legal action]. "We are not the ones who are enforcing bans on players or umpires."

Subhash Chandra, chairman of the Essel Group, which owns the ICL, and Himanshu Mody, the league's business head, had met BCCI president Shashank Manohar and N Srinivasan, the board's secretary, in New Delhi but the talks barely lasted 15-20 minutes and they failed to arrive at a common ground.

Manohar met officials of the ICL for the first time since the league was set up in April 2007 after its request for recognition came up for discussion at the ICC board meeting in Dubai earlier this month. It was decided at that meeting that Manohar would provide a written report to the ICC board "in due course" after discussions with the ICL.

Kapil said he was unhappy with the way the talks were conducted. "I wasn't there but I believe they said 'you shut down the ICL then we will talk'. There is no point in talking after that. We will now wait for 21 days to decide our future plan of action."

ICL 20-20 Indian Championship, 2008/09

ICL 20-20 Indian Championship, 2008/09

TEAM	MP	W	L	T	NR	NRR	PTS
Royal Bengal Tigers	3	3	0	0	0	+1.124	6
Hyderabad Heroes	2	2	0	0	0	+0.917	4
Chennai Superstars	3	2	1	0	0	+0.884	4
Chandigarh Lions	2	2	0	0	0	+0.313	4
Lahore Badshahs	3	1	2	0	0	-0.079	2
Delhi Giants	2	1	1	0	0	-0.550	2
Ahmedabad Rockets	4	1	3	0	0	-0.726	2
Dhaka Warriors	2	0	2	0	0	-0.719	0
Mumbai Champs	3	0	3	0	0	-0.725	0

Batting Records in ICL

Statistics	In 20s	In 50s
Most Runs	Ganapathi Vignesh (697)	Jai Prakash Yadav (387)
Best Average	Shane Bond (50)	Dheeraj Jadhav (77.75)
Best Strike Rate	Azhar Mahmood (174.19)	Abhinav Bali (129.57)
Most 100s	Alok Kapali (1)	Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (1)
Most 50s	Ambati Rayudu (4)	Jai Prakash Yadav (3)
Most Sixes	Ganapathi Vignesh (31)	Hemang Badani (14)
Most Fours	Ganapathi Vignesh (79)	Abhinav Bali (33)
Most Ducks	Chris Harris (4)	Baburao Yadav (2)
Highest Individual Score	Alok Kapali (100)	Monish Mishra (122*)
Most Sixes in an Inning	Imran Farhat (8)	Abhinav Bali (6)
Most Fours in an Inning	Dinesh Mongia (9)	Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (9)
Highest Score on Debut	Wavell Hinds (59)	Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (104)

Published Date: Oct 19, 2008