Victor Trumper's 1902 Test Bat

Victor Trumper

A batsman of great elegance, Victor Trumper played every shot in the book epitomising the Golden Era of cricket (1890-1914).

He was Australia’s most famous player at the time, highly regarded in England, immensely generous to local children of East Sydney and dearly loved by all. His early, untimely death in June 1915, at a young age of 37, shocked Australian and England fans.

Victor Trumper's 1902 Test Bat

In 1902 Trumper became the first Batsman to score ‘100 before lunch’ in a Test match. He is still remembered as one of the most stylish batsmen of all time.

Victor Trumper excelled on unpredictable, uncovered wickets. Using this bat, Trumper amassed an incredible 1500 runs during a damp 1902 English summer. With a total of 2570 runs for the tour, he was confirmed as Australia’s leading batsman.

At the tour’s end, he gifted this bat to cricket publisher John Wisden. The white plaque at the top of the blade shows that the bat was displayed in the Wisden museum at a later date.

On the bat’s face an applied handwritten letter reads:

"Inns of Court Hotel, Holburn, 14 Sept 1902, Dear Sirs, The bat I am forwarding you is the one selected at the beginning of our tour. I have made 1500 runs with it. It is perfectly balanced with as fine a handle and is altogether as good a bat as one could wish to have. Sincerely yours V. Trumper"

Note the waxed string binding on the bottom of the letter. In some cases bats were bound at the time by either waxed string or pig skin, which could stain the wood, but would prolong the life of the bat.

Binding with waxed string is also applied to the base of the handle. Binding is still in practice but far less common.

Deep marks across the blade are made by the impact of the cricket balls.