During the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, the famous Amarnath family kindly donated to the National Sports Museum a miniature bat signed by members of both the Australia and India teams who played the first Test of the 1947/48 series in Australia.
Lala Amarnath captained India and Bradman was Australian captain.
The bat has parquetry inlays on both faces of the bat and it comes apart into three pieces. The middle section is hollow, and the cavity originally held two shims of timber veneer, one signed by the members of India’s team and the other shim signed by the members of Australia’s team.
The below photo was also donated. It shows Lala Amarnath (centre) with the bat. On the right of the photo is Pakaj Gupta, the Indian team manager. The man on the left is not yet identified, but is perhaps an Australian cricketer.
The location of this photo is not known, but presumably it was somewhere in Queensland - the first Test between Australia and India in 1947 was at the Gabba in Brisbane, and it was followed by a match between India and the Queensland Country team at Warwick.
The occasion of this photo is perhaps at the time of the presentation of the gift to Amarnath – but it could be after the formalities. Meaning that the man on the left might not be the same person who handed over the gift.
Either way, the National Sports Museum is keen to receive any assistance from the public to identify the man in the photo, so we can nail down the details of this significant item in Australia-India cricket history.
Can you help? Please send us an email.