The former Australian captain came under fire in the second Test against the West Indies in Adelaide last week after donning a Baggy Green that looked close to disintegrating.
Smith subsequently revealed that his cap was so badly damaged because rodents gnawed away at it while he was playing in Sri Lanka during July’s test series.
‘I left it overnight in the change room in Galle like I do everywhere and turned up next day and rats had got to it, I think,’ he told The Australian.
The 33-year-old isn’t the first Australian to wear his Baggy Green long past it has started looking worse.
Steve Waugh was famously the first player to take the field with a cap in very poor condition, while icons like Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer had baggy green caps that were literally falling apart on the final day of their Test careers.
‘I never contemplated replacing it just because it had aged. I saw the stains, tears, fading and fraying as badges of honour, each imperfection telling a story,’ Waugh said.
In the 1990s Waugh introduced the practice of having former players handing out the prized cap to debutants, after Mark Taylor created the tradition of marking players’ Test debut for Australia by handing them the Baggy Green.
Ricky Ponting’s famously cap had to be repaired multiple times, including when the peak fell off, with new rips and tears appearing through to his final Test 10 years ago.
Smith made 38 in Australia’s first innings before being bowled by Anrich Nortje with 10 minutes left to play in the day
‘I haven’t got one piece of cricket memorabilia up in my house anywhere, but this is obviously a bit more special than the rest of it,’ he said during his final Test.
‘It might need some renovating or something done to it. It’s been done up a couple of times over the years already. So we’ll see what happens with it.’
Smith’s debut in his brand new headgear was a mixed bag.