Signatures of 1928-29 Oz Ashes players discovered in tattered manuscript in Brisbane

The complete signatures of the English and Australian cricket teams from the 1928-29 Ashes Tour of Australia has reportedly been discovered in a tattered encyclopaedia passed down through generations.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the signatures, a valuable part of the Australian cricket history, were found after in a book called as Pugh's Almanac, after languishing unnoticed in a backyard shed in Brisbane for more than two decades.

Unaware of the signatures within the pages of his dilapidated edition, which he inherited from his mother, Brisbane resident Phil Imison said that the book was saved as his mother was a woman who did not like to throw anything away, and used to put old, unused things in the shed.

According to the report, the discovery was made when Imison recently lent his edition to a family friend, who accidentally came across the memorabilia while flicking through its tattered pages, adding that the signatures were collected by Imison's late uncle.

In circumstances reminiscent of the current series, the 1928-29 Australian team was in the midst of a 4-1 defeat to England, in which a 20-year-old Sir Donald Bradman made his Test debut for Australia in Brisbane and scored 19 runs - 18 in the first innings and one in the second.

Meanwhile, Imison said that he intended to donate his autographed copy to the International Cricket Hall of Fame in Bowral, New South Wales.