Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football & Sporting Memorabilia
Held on Friday, Saturday & Sunday
10th, 11th & 12th April 2026
Lot 896
Estimate: £4000/6000
Hammer: £4800
Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji. Sussex, Cambridge University & England 1924-1932. A ‘Summers Brown Jack Hobbs Force’ Harrow cricket bat used by Duleepsinhji during the 1929 season. Sussex played Gloucestershire at Cheltenham on August 14th-16th and Duleepsinhji having damaged his bat took it to William Woof, his coach at Cheltenham College to be repaired. After the match the repaired bat was handed back to Duleepsinhji. He then presented it to the Woof family as a ‘thank you’ for the work they had done to help him with his cricket when at the College. The bat is signed by Duleepsinhji to the back and there is a stamp for ‘W.A. Woof. Cheltenham’ next to the signature Lacking its handle rubber and parts of the twine otherwise in good condition
Prior to this match, Sussex played Kent at Hastings on the 10th-13th August. Duleepsinhji scored 115 and 246 in the match, you would think he used this bat??Duleepsinhji was a cricketer who played for England in the era before the Indian cricket team, he is considered one of India’s first great batsmen, alongside his uncle Ranjitsinhji, who also represented England. Born in present-day Gujarat, he was educated at the Rajkumar College, Rajkot, before moving to England as a boy, where he attended Cheltenham College, and Cambridge University. Duleepsinhji went on to achieve great success as a batsman for Cheltenham College, Cambridge University, Sussex and eventually England in a career cut short by recurrent illness. In 1930, playing for Sussex, he scored 333 runs in one day against Northamptonshire. He played twelve Test matches for England making a top score of 173. His Test average of 58.5 ranks him among the best batsmen to have played Test cricket. He died in December 1959, following a heart attack, in Bombay