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Sir Donald Bradman - The Original Master Blaster
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There are many who associate cricket
with Don Bradman and not the other way round. Indeed, with
Bradman the game of cricket turned to poetry, almost always, judging by his
stupendous test average of 99.94
If we spoke to you about the Boy from Bowral, you’d probably
wonder who we are talking about, unless you are one of those
die-hard cricket aficionados from the commonwealth countries
(former British colonies) who has cricket for breakfast,
lunch and dinner. As it happens, we are talking about one of the
greatest cricketing legends of the last century. A man whose
name has been etched for future generations not just in the
record books, but in the form of a museum, the Bradman Museum.
Oops, there goes the secret. The museum is a holy spot even for
those of us who are only familiar with the Chappel brothers, the
Waughs, Border and Ponting.
Donald George Bradman was born to
George and Emily in New South Wales, Australia, on August 27,
1908. He was the youngest of five siblings. When young Don was
around two years, his parents moved to Bowral in the Southern
Highlands of New South Wales.
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Bradman’s father was himself a good
cricketer and it was no surprise that the great Don took to
cricket like a duck to water at a tender age. His early cricket
was in the form of throwing a golf ball against a small brick
wall and hitting it on the rebound with a cricket stump. And it
remains a fact that he whetted his skills with this solitaire
version of cricket. Bradman played his first cricket match at
the age of eleven at Bowral, where he was doing his schooling. He
scored fifty-five runs. The ground, the Oval on which he made those
fifty odd runs has now been christened the Bradman Oval. The Bradman
Museum lies adjacent to the Oval.
The first century from his magic willow came when the don of
cricketing was twelve years old. With that century began the trail
of his blistering record breaking spree.
However, the Sydney Cricket Ground has an interesting tale
associated with the legend. It is said that when his father took him
to watch a cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the Don
remarked that he would never be satisfied until he played a match.
He played not one but several matches on the ground. |
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Sir Donald
Bradman |
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In fact, the Don’s cricketing career began in Sydney, where he
played for the St. George Club. It was a matter of time before he was
invited to play for the state team.
But, his Test debut was not one a historian or biographer would want
to mention, which was against England, in the First Test match of
the 1928-29 series. He made such poor scores (eighteen and one) that
he was dropped for the second test.
When recalled for the Third Test, he wielded his willow with a
vengeance and scored his first Test century (112) in the second
innings. He made a significant contribution in the first innings
too, scoring seventy-nine runs. After this, there was no looking
back. It is a record of sorts that he was never dropped from the
Australian team till his retirement.
Setting records was a habit with Bradman. During the 1930 tour of
England, he scored 334 runs and at that time, it was the highest
Test score. He also made 452 runs for New South Wales against
Queensland, creating a new record for the highest score in
Australian first class cricket.
Bradman played 80 Tests for Australia, many of them as captain,
scored a total of 211 centuries (first class and international),
with 6,996 runs in Test Cricket. His career Test average is 99.94.
It sends us reeling, just reading about it.
In fact, the Bodyline is said to have been devised by the Douglas
Jardine’s Englishmen to curtail Bradman’s onslaught. Though it
slowed him slightly, it did not stop him from blasting and setting
records.
Cricket was temporarily suspended during the Second World War. At
the end of it, when Bradman returned to Australia, he took up the
willow again, in an effort to cheer those reeling from the shock of
the war.
In 1948, he donned the cap and led the Australian team for the last
time. His team was invincible. However, Bradman’s last match was an
anti-climax of sorts. When he walked in to bat for the last time, he
was given a loud ovation and even the English team gave him three
cheers. He was soon out for a duck. What disappointed everyone
wasn’t the duck, but the fact that he failed to score the four runs
required to take his Test average to hundred.
Although Bradman did not take guard again, he continued to be
associated with the game as selector and administrator. He also
penned a autobiography, Farewell to Cricket.
He was knighted by the Governor General of Australia in 1949 and
henceforth, he was known as Sir Donald Bradman.
Bradman names his wife Jessie as his greatest partner. The two were
childhood friends. They remained close through their growing years
and decided to tie the knot in the year 1932. Their successful sixty
five-year-old partnership was broken when death snatched his beloved
in 1997.
Sadly, Sir Donald Bradman breathed his last on 26th Feb 2001, 8
short of a century. He was the closest that cricket has come to a
messiah. |
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