LONDON: A turban worn by K.S Ranjit Singh ji one of the greatest batsmen of all time has become the subject of a legal wrangle in Britain after a bid to sell it.

The 21 foot long head cloth in the red and gold colors of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has been put up for auction by the I likely Cricket Club of West Yorkshire after being kept as its most treasured exhibit for 19 years.

The club hopes the turban will help towards raising 30000 needed to buy their ground from the Bradford city council but the move has been opposed by the family of the man who gave it to the club the late Yorkshire batsman Jack Brumfitt.

There are said to be several theories to the origin of the turban according to Brumfitt he was given it by a woman who claimed she received it from a lady friend of Ranji’s.

According to another account the Indian Prince -hard up for cash gave the turban to painter Mary Tayler as security for a portrait he had commissioned.

A third more romantic story has it that Ranji gave the turban to a local girl he had fallen in love with but whose father Ranji’s tutor at Cambridge University opposed their marriage on racial grounds

Jack Brumfitt passed on the turban to the I likely Club in 1972 and club officials thought it became club property when he died.

However Brumfitt’s son John claimed the family still owned the turban and his father did not intend it to be sold.

Pointing out that his father had left the club 10000 and that his ashes had been scattered on the pitch John Brumfitt said: “I feel a bit miffed that this appears to have been over looked amid all this.”

Club chairman Mike Clegg said:” It’s all very sad. The last thing we want to do is upset the Brumfitt family. But we do need the money to buy the club ground.”

Ranji whose batting technique was described by the legendary W.G.Grace as superior to his own played 15 times for England between 1896 and 1902 scoring a century on his Test debut against Australia and hitting up 24692 runs in first class cricket.

He died in India in 1933.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 26, 1991