Sir Donald Bradman – The Don of Cricket World
Donald Bradman is a former Australian batsman, and one of the most worshipped player in the history of cricket. He was a Right-hand batsman and a Right-arm leg break bowler. His batting redefined the game of cricket and his brilliance confounded opponents. For all his achievements in the cricketing world, Sir Donald Bradman is undoubtedly, one of the greatest players to have played the game in the 20th century.
Born on August 27, 1908, in Australia’s New South Wales province as the youngest child of George and Emily Bradman, Donald George Bradman grew up with three sisters and a brother. He developed a deep love for cricket. As a boy, he used a stump in place of a bat, a golf ball and a tank stand at home to perfect his batting.
Boy from Bowral
Aged 12, he scored his first ton for his alma mater, Bowral Public School. At the age of 20, on his Test debut against England in Brisbane in Nov-Dec 1928, Bradman scored 18 and 1. Australia were shot out for 66 in the second innings to lose by 675 runs. After being dropped for the second Test, Bradman was recalled for the third Test in Melbourne. He scored 79 and 112 to become the youngest to hit a century at that level. In the final Test, Bradman top-scored with 123 in the first innings.
During the Ashes series in 1930, Bradman hit 131 and 254 in the first Test and 254 in the second. On the opening day of the third Test, he scored a century each before lunch and between lunch and tea, before reaching 309 not out at stumps. Eventually he scored 334, a world-record. In the decider at The Oval, Bradman made 232. Along with Archie Jackson, he helped Australia regain the Ashes and become a national hero.
Early days and debut
When Bradman started playing cricket, he invented his own solo game. He used a cricket stump as a bat and a golf ball. A water tank, mounted on a curved brick stand was present in the back of his house. When he hit the curved brick facing of the stand, the ball would rebound at varying angles at high speed, thus developing his concentration and timing.
However, he had a poor debut in the test against England at Brisbane in 1928, he made just 19 runs in his debut match. After a poor start, he made a strong comeback and ended the series on a high with 468 runs at an average close to 67.
Rise to glory
Bradman showed his dominance in the 1930 series against England when he amassed 974 runs at an average of 139.14, including two double hundreds and his career best score of 334. The world saw a glimpse of Bradman’s calibre in this series and he didn’t fail to amaze them with his charismatic batting in the coming years.
Stats and Records
If there is one number that exemplified Bradman’s cricketing career, it is 99.94, his average in test cricket.
Bradman scored 6996 runs in 52 Test matches (80 innings). He scored 29 Test centuries, which was a world record at one time.
He also scored 13 half-centuries and 12 double hundreds (the most by any batsman). Bradman’s ratio of hundreds to fifties was a staggering 2.23. He scored a hundred every two tests.
Bradman’s stats are even more remarkable because of the eight years he lost due to the World War 2. In the 15, Tests he played after the war, he averaged more than 105, and scored eight hundreds.
He holds the record for the highest rated test batsman in the history of cricket with 961 points. Bradman’s record of 974 runs in a series is the most by any player in test history.
Career trajectory
The second World War ate up into Bradman’s cricket career and when cricket resumed in 1946, he was in poor health. The 1948 tour to England was his last and he led a team of such remarkable players that they were nicknamed “The Invincibles”.
Coming out to bat for the last time, he needed just four runs to reach the average of 100 but was dismissed for a duck. Such was the shock among the cricket analysts and the public that they remarked this moment as “God’s Blob”.
He died of Pneumonia on February 25, 2001. He may have died but he will surely be one of the greatest batsman to have played the game of cricket.
Interesting facts
1. In 1949, Bradman was made a Knight Bachelor in recognition of his services to cricket, making him the only Australian cricketer to receive the British honour. In 1979, he was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia.
2. The Wisden Yearbook, which is considered the ‘Bible of Cricket’, termed Bradman as “the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games” Cricket experts also selected him as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century.
3. The Bradman Museum was opened in 1989 at the Bradman Oval in his hometown, Bowral. It was reformed as a non-profit charitable trust first called the Bradman Foundation and then as the International Cricket Hall of Fame.
Donald Bradman Memorial Issue 2001 Australian Stamp Set
Personal life
Bradman met Jessie Martha Menzies in 1920 and they were married in 1932. She was a pillar of support to him and they complemented each other in a 65-year-long marriage. Her death in 1997 affected him badly and Bradman passed away on Feb 25, 2001. aged 92.
