Woolgrowers donate the next 100 years of baggy greens

Handed over on the Adelaide oval during the tea interval at the First Test of the summer, the cloth was created as part of the Flock to Baggy Green project and donated by 450 woolgrowers from across Australia and forms 1000 lineal metres of fabric with an average fibre diameter of 20 microns.

Australian Wool Innovation Chairman Ms Colette Garnsey OAM hands Cricket Australia Chairman Earl Eddings the next era of baggy green cloth

All donors to the project have been placed on a map of Australia on the dedicated website www.flocktobaggygreen.com.au where From Flock to Baggy Green by renowned cricket writer Gideon Haigh outlines the strong and lasting bonds between cricket and wool.  

AWI General Manager Operations Nigel Gosse outlined the work with Cricket Australia was part of AWI’s commitment to its fibre advocacy program. 

“Flock to Baggy Green has created a lasting legacy from the woolgrowers of Australia to Australian cricket, adding to the history and provenance of one of our nation’s most significant sporting icons,” Mr Gosse explained. 

“Cricket-loving woolgrowers from the outback to the coast, from large pastoral holdings to small family businesses have all answered the call to help grow the Baggy Green. All have donated some of the natural fibre they grow with passion to help make our most sacred sporting icon.

“At AWI our role is to increase the long-term profitability of Australian woolgrowers and to advocate for the natural fibre domestically and overseas. 

“This fabric has been grown on more than 450 properties across Australian and donated by cricket loving woolgrowers which adds to the history and provenance of one of our nation’s most significant sporting icons.  

“The presentation creates a lasting legacy from the woolgrowers of Australia to Australian cricket.”

The Flock to Baggy Green project combines the Australian wool industry, Cricket Australia and Kookaburra to create special baggy green cloth made from wool donated from across Australia.

Cricket Australia Chairman Earl Eddings said the project will continue to build the meaning of the Baggy Green Cap for Australian cricketers. 

“Australian cricket is shared and loved across Australia. Likewise, the Australian Wool industry has a played a pivotal part in the Australian way of life, so to combine the two gives the Baggy Green Cap fantastic meaning for future Australian Test cricketers,” Mr Eddings said. 

“Our future Test cricketers can wear their caps with pride, knowing woolgrowers from around the country have contributed to its creation.”


All wool donors will be receiving a sample of the cloth and a copy of From Flock to Baggy Green as a keepsake.

History of the baggy green 

The baggy green cap, made from 100 per cent Australian wool, is worn by Australian Test cricketers and is seen as the highest honour a player can receive. 

Australian cricketers first started wearing what became known as the baggy green in 1899, when captained by Joe Darling: a tough middle order batsman, woolgrower and pastoralist from South Australia. 

With cricket being one of Australia’s largest participation sports, clubs across the country have long formed a vital part of the fabric of rural communities, with sheep stations many years ago having their own cricket teams and many cricketing heroes past and present having had connections to the wool industry. 

The Australian Cricket Coat of Arms, created before Australia officially existed, features a sheep, which shows the wool industry’s prominence in the Australian community when the team first formed.

About AWI 

AWI is a not-for-profit company that invests in research and development (R&D), and marketing to increase the long-term profitability of Australian woolgrowers. 

AWI is funded primarily through a wool levy paid by woolgrowers and a matching contribution from the Federal Government for eligible R&D activities that are capped at 0.5% of the value of gross national value of wool production.

For more information head to www.wool.com