Don Bradman's history-making 1934 Ashes bat up for auction

Melbourne: A piece of cricketing history, the bat used by the legendary Donald Bradman in the 1934 Ashes series with which he scored two triple-centuries is up for auction. Bradman had also used the bat to score his highest ever Test partnership of 451 runs with opening batter Bill Ponsford. 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. 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. “Its 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.