Wednesday, July 18, 2001 Linford had his lycra, and Venus has her dresses, but no single piece of sports clothing so defines its wearer as the Baggy Green. It represents an ethos in itself (I even gave it a capital B and G without really thinking) and is revered by Australian cricketers as Che Guevara loved his beret. If Richie Benaud used to fall asleep with his bat by his side, how many Aussies have drifted off wearing that cap?

The Australian attachment to headwear was in evidence once more when Steve Waugh and Nasser Hussain went out to toss up on the first morning of the Edgbaston Test. Waugh sported the Baggy Green, while Hussain's headwear was a mixture of Vodafone and baseball. It was a symbolic moment: while Waugh was doffing his cap to history, Hussain showed indifference to it. The past can sometimes weigh too heavily on the present, but if ever there was a time to remind everyone that this was England - not England plc - v Australia, then the opening morning of the first Ashes series of the 21st century was surely it.

It's true that England's own cap doesn't have quite the same aura about it as the Baggy Green (the Trim Blue just doesn't work), but in a sport where everyone wears white, the hat is the once piece of clothing that allows you to make a statement. Remember how Douglas Jardine wore his Harlequins headwear during the Bodyline series in 1932-33 to evoke images of snooty Englishness and provoke the Aussies?

But like all pieces of sartorial jingoism, there is a time and a place. At the Wimbledon men's final on Monday, the Aussie team - and half London's Australian population - was out in force to cheer on their man Pat Rafter. It was a great sight. Until you spied the cricketers. Some were wearing the baseball caps of their own sponsors, which was fair enough. But at least three of them - Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath and Ricky Ponting - were sporting the Baggy Green.

Aaaarrggh!

This was more toe-curling than Dickie Bird's recent appearance on Through the Keyhole. There had to be less kitsch ways for the players to show their support for Rafter: a Southern Cross flag perhaps, or some dabs of green-and-gold face-paint, even those yellow Superman T-shirts some of their compatriots were modestly wearing. Hell, anything but the Baggy Green. It was like Frankie Dettori going to cheer on Italy in the World Cup final carrying a whip, or Eric Bristow turning up at Twickenham clutching his darts. (Although you imagine that Dettori and Bristow would at least do it with some sense of irony.)

Aussie team spirit is an amazing thing, and Waugh doesn't get many things wrong, but this was taking the Mate Ethic too far, crossing the fine line between the tasteful and the tacky. If the cap fits, Steve, please only wear it when you're playing cricket.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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