Cricket: Bidding war begins as Shane Warne puts Baggy Green up for auction to raise bush fire funds

Shane Warne is auctioning his Baggy Green to raise funds for the bush fire relief efforts. Photo / Twitter

Shane Warne has put his famous Baggy Green cap up for grabs in a tremendous gesture to help raise funds for the Bushfire Appeal.

Australia's Spin King announced the unbelievable move during day four of the third test between Australia and New Zealand.

"The bushfires have been absolutely horrific, they've touched all of us in a way," Warne said on Fox Cricket.

"To see the total devastation, lives have been lost, families have been lost, over 500 million wildlife has died. The stories are horrific.

"We always wore this the first session of a bowling day every time and I've had that baggy green cap my whole career and I've decided to put it up for auction."

Please bid here https://t.co/kZMhGkmcxs pic.twitter.com/ZhpeWQxqY7

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) January 6, 2020

Moments after going online former England skipper Michael Vaughan submitted his offer of $25,000 for the cap, but his sum was passed in stunning fashion.

The bids soared in for the amazing piece of Australian cricket memorabilia as within the first 90 minutes the amount was well into the six figures.

The auction is set to run for a week with the figure set to rapidly climb and potentially go close to Sir Donald Bradman's baggy green which fetched $425,000 in 2003.

Warne's gesture received plenty of praise from former teammates with Darren Lehman and Jason Gillespie showing the love to Warne.

Brilliant gesture by The King👍🏽 https://t.co/bmCKJBbIc4

— Jason Gillespie 🌱 (@dizzy259) January 6, 2020

Warne becomes the latest star to do their part to raise funds for the devastating bushfires that continue to wreak havoc across Australia.

Australia's fast bowling group have pledged $1000 for every wicket taken during the Sydney test while several Big Bash stars are donating hundreds of dollars for every six hit.

It follows in the footsteps of Daniel Ricciardo, Ash Barty and Nick Kyrgios who got things started when he announced he would be donating $250 for every single ace.

Moments after Warne's announcement, AFL star Dayne Beams put his 2010 premiership medal up for grabs with the funds going towards the Bushfire Appeal.

View this post on Instagram

After the overwhelming response Lloyds Auctions will hold a specific Charity Auction for my premiership medal with all proceeds going to the Victorian Rural Fire Services - I will post the link for the live auction in 30 minutes so follow my insta story for the link @lloydsauctions

A post shared by Dayne Philip Beams (@beama_9) on Jan 5, 2020 at 10:10pm PST

Only 15 minutes after the site went live it crashed under the sheer weight of numbers looking to submit a bid, but once it came back on the bids began rolling in.

At 11.45am on Tuesday (NZ time), the leading bid was AU$315,500.

Four different bidders put more than $313,000 up for the cap late last night.