Imagine the bat that Australian Charles Bannerman used to score the first century in Test cricket against England in 1877 going up for sale at an auction in a major cricketing country.

It would spark a bidding frenzy and would probably sell for several hundreds of thousands of dollars, considering the historical value of it. The century made with it was scored in the first Test match ever played, Bannerman scoring 165 as Australia won by 45 runs in Melbourne.

Not as old, but certainly as valuable to a Bermudian family, are the items used when St. George's batsman Edward (Bosun) Swainson scored the first century in Cup Match in 1937, when he hit 122 in the drawn match at the Royal Naval field. He was in his second of four stints as captain at the time.

Yes, the bat and the pads used in that innings by Swainson are still around, but no, the family is looking for the highest bidder. They just want to preserve a significant piece of Cup Match history, now that the annual match has reached its 100th birthday.

In fact the gear was at last week's match at Wellington Oval, with grandson Brandon (Pickles) Robinson carrying the bat in a trash bag. His brother Blaine had the pads, whose condition has deteriorated in just the last year because of Bermuda's humid climate. Blaine is looking into the possibility of having the pads, with their padding falling out, restored.

The age of them drew some plenty of interest at the match.

"I went there the first day with the pads, I took them to Jim Woolridge for a while then went to the other side and showed them to Mike Sharpe," said Blaine.

"I was there talking to the Somerset president and they want to buy the pads - he didn't see the bat - but I won't sell them. The museum in St. George's, if anywhere at all, is where I'll take them."

Mr. Swainson's daughter, Sybil Robinson, has tried, without success, to get St. George's Cricket Club to take over the valuable items.

"I approached them before, maybe about three years ago, but nobody paid any attention," said Mrs. Robinson.

"I asked different St. George's people but nobody was interested. I would like to have them put in a glass case. My brother Leslie had the bat in Southampton and I had the pads. It's no use keeping them at home closed up.

"My brother doesn't want to give up the bat. He feels it's history, but why not put it somewhere where it can be seen. Another member of the family has the actual ball, somewhere in St. George's.

The pads have only gotten like that in this last year. We live on the water and it's because of the dampness. The last time I looked at them they were in perfect shape.

"I always wondered what happened to my daddy's cricket boots, he always played in cricket boots."

Mrs. Robinson was too young at the time to remember the century, though other events from that time are still vivid in her memory, like the marching of the Cup Match celebrations. Other possessions of her fathers are in even better shape and are valuable family heirlooms.

"When they marched the cup they had my daddy on a white horse and the cricketers had sticks with tins and rag in the tins with a fire," she recalled. "That I can remember.

"And the prizes he got, I don't think they give nowadays. My daddy got a silver tray, silver teapot, a dinner set, meat platter and the cutlery came from England and it had bone handles with my daddy's initials, ERS, on them.

"My oldest brother has that now. ERS are my brother's (Eddie) initials. All of it is still around. My sister has the tea set and one brother has the tray.''

Added Mrs. Robinson: "When my daddy got married in 1927, St. George's Cricket Club gave him silver casserole dishes and I still have one ribbon, blue and blue, on it tied in a knot...from 1927!

"He got many cups and trophies and my brother has some of them. I never had to clean the silver, it's such good silver, just kept it in the cabinet and wiped it off."

Swainson, Bermuda's first black Police Inspector, died in the late 1960s at the age of 64. But his memory still lives on.

"I still have his Inspector's cane and mornings when I go walking I take it with me," said grandson Brandon (Pickles) Robinson. "It still has the brass top on it."

Brandon was 12 when his grandfather died, but he has memories of him.

"He used to have a Morris "He used to have a Morris Minor Convertible and every Saturday night he used to take us into town to get ice cream."

Swainson hit eight sixes and ten fours in his century, sharing in a sixth wicket stand of 101 with Clifford Darrell. Swainson scored 39 in the St. George's second innings and the following year earned the dubious distinction of scoring the first 99 in Cup Match, denied what would have been a second century by an lbw decision!

Before Janeiro Tucker achieved the feat last week, only three players have scored two centuries in Cup Match - Lloyd James, Rupert Scotland and Arnold Manders.

Mr. Swainson's bat used to make the century was filled with other players' signatures, but only his name remains, the others having faded over time.

"(Warrington) 'Soup' Zuill (a Cup Match historian) took pictures of the bat, he was quite taken up with it," said Brandon who also showed the bat to another St. George's legend, Leroy (Tubby) Richardson, at Cup Match and some of the current players.

"A lot of people just wanted to hold the bat and to say they were holding a piece of history. People were taken up with the size of the bat. His other bat had original pig skin wrapped around it."

Richardson's own Cup Match career began four years after that first century. Swainson, who captained the St. George's team in Cup Match 12 times, was Richardson's captain in '41. In a recent article in Lifestyle, Richardson rated Swainson as the best captain he had played under.

Swainson's 829 runs is the fourth highest aggregate total in Cup Match and his 39 innings was a record before Noel Gibbons batted for the 40th and final time in 1993.

Still, Bosun Swainson's achievements in Cup Match will live on...his family are seeing to that!