Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne decided to do his bit in order to help out in the crisis of the bushfires that have been razing across the country. The legendary spinner who usually wore the white wide-brimmed hat cherishes the baggy green cap he received when he made his Test debut against India in 1992. He will be putting up the cap to raise money for the Bushfire Appeal.

Shane Warne played 145 Tests, picking 708 wickets and also took 293 scalps in 194 ODIs. His career lasted till 2007 and he was also named one of the Wisden 5 cricketers of the 20th century. The Victorian made the announcement of putting his cap up for auction during the fourth day’s play at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) between Australia and New Zealand and shared it on Instagram.

He posted, “The horrific bushfires in Australia have left us all in disbelief. The impact these devastating fires are having on so many people is unthinkable and has touched us all. Lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed and over 500 million animals have died too. Everyone is in this together and we continue to find ways to contribute and help on a daily basis. This has to lead me to auction of my beloved baggy green cap (350) that I wore throughout my test career (when I wasn’t wearing my white floppy hat). I hope my baggy green can raise some significant funds to help all those people that are in desperate need.”

View this post on Instagram

The horrific bushfires in Australia have left us all in disbelief. The impact these devastating fires are having on so many people is unthinkable and has touched us all. Lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed and over 500 million animals have died too. Everyone is in this together and we continue to find ways to contribute and help on a daily basis. This has lead me to auction of my beloved baggy green cap (350) that I wore throughout my test career (when I wasn’t wearing my white floppy hat). I hope my baggy green can raise some significant funds to help all those people that are in desperate need. Please go to the link in my bio and make a bid & help me to donate a big cheque ! Thankyou so much ❤️ #australianbushfires

A post shared by Shane Warne (@shanewarne23) on Jan 5, 2020 at 7:58pm PST

Shane Warne’s baggy green auction breaks the website

Warne’s cap was put up for auction on the Australia site auction site pickles.com.au. However, the servers of the website crashed within a matter of minutes, thanks to an enormous load of people bidding for the valuable possession. The auction site quickly rectified its IT issues and the site is back online, with the top bid on Warne’s baggy green hitting the $50,000 mark within half an hour of the auction going live.

Even England captain Michael Vaughan bid AUD $25,000 for the cap and tweeted the same saying that he had bid in the attempt of buying Warne’s cap. It is an amazing piece of Australian cricket memorabilia given the history of the person who owned this and his achievements on the field. Warne’s baggy green will come with an autographed certificate of authenticity from Warne and 100 percent of proceeds from the online auction will be donated to the Bushfire Appeal.

This is incredible .. My bid is 25k Aussie Dollars .. 👍 https://t.co/ByOkzJDkGO

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 6, 2020

Meanwhile, apart from Warne, other cricketers are doing their bit for helping out the victims of bushfires which have claimed more than 500 million lives of animals and destroyed acres of land and wildlife.