Don bradman records
Yes, Don Bradman hit a few sixes in his career, though it was rare. Instead, he was known for his ground strokes and precision rather than big hitting. While the technically strict definition that makes Don Bradman the best ever statistically holds good, purely in terms of his untainted average, it is Sachin Tendulkar who is the one whose greatness is being celebrated because of longevity and, more importantly, the number of records broken and his influence on the game worldwide.
But direct comparisons between legends from different eras can never be made. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Skip to content. Rise in Domestic Cricket Not long after, Bradman started climbing his way through the ranks of domestic cricket. The Bodyline Series Controversy It was in the Bodyline series of —33 when Bradman had to face arguably his toughest spell in career history.
Final Years and the Famous Post-Retirement Life and Contributions to Cricket He did not let retirement from cricket make him inactive and disinterested in the game. Bradman Foundation Awards : Recognizing exceptional cricketers and contributors to the sport. Why is Don Bradman so famous? Did Don Bradman ever hit a six? Who is better, Tendulkar or Bradman?
It was the first time in Ashes history that a team had won a series from two-nil down. Bradman denied any involvement, but the four thought otherwise and that he should have faced them at the meeting. Don Bradman was a teetotaller, ambitious, conservative and meticulous.
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His first child, Ross, was born in October but survived only two days. A second son, John, born in July , was afflicted by polio at twelve, but fully recovered. He chose athletics over cricket, and held State and national junior hurdles records. A daughter, Shirley, born in April , suffered from cerebral palsy. The absence of a clear separate identity for his son as he reached adulthood eventually became overwhelming, despite the strong family bond.
John, a lecturer in law at the University of Adelaide, changed his surname to Bradsen in This was painful for his parents. Australia retained the Ashes on the tour, but the series was dominated by the innings and run defeat that England inflicted during the final Test at the Oval, where Bradman was unable to bat after fracturing his ankle during a rare demonstration of his leg spin bowling.
Fighting with the British Army, Verity was killed in action in The following year his concern for financial security reasserted itself when he was persuaded by a Melbourne Cricket Club committee member to seek the club secretaryship. The position would very likely have ended his international career, and instead went to Vernon Ransford, a former Test player.
World War II brought a suspension of Test cricket. In early the combination of a Bradman appearance, and anticipation that all domestic first-class cricket would soon cease, attracted 75, spectators over four days to the SCG to watch New South Wales play South Australia, only for him to score just 39 and He enrolled in the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve in June , and was assessed as suitable for aircrew and training as an observer.
His enlistment did not eventuate, however, and in October he was appointed as a lieutenant in the Citizen Military Forces. To the surprise of most, a check revealed defective eyesight and, worse still, he had apparently developed fibrositis. He underwent periods of hospitalisation and, to his lasting disappointment, was released from his duties and placed on the Retired List in April So acute was the condition that Jessie had to shave him and comb his hair.
Bradman resumed work as a stockbroker with Hodgetts, and in became a member of the Adelaide Stock Exchange. Two years later the firm collapsed, owing a large amount of money. Bradman had trusted Hodgetts, who was found to have resorted to fraud to prop up the business. Bradman responded calmly by starting his own stockbroking firm in the same building he had worked with Hodgetts, and targeted many of his former clients.
As the war approached its end, anticipation of the resumption of international cricket grew. Bradman did not play in the Victory Tests in England, five matches held over May and August between servicemen from England and Australia, the success of which confirmed the public hunger for the game. The public was more concerned, however, that his continuing health problems would prevent him from resuming playing.
To conserve himself for the forthcoming Ashes series, he missed the tour of New Zealand. The English team that toured Australia in —47 was led by Hammond, now forty-three. He was then on 28, and the umpire quickly turned down the appeal. He went on to score , demoralising the Englishmen who rightly feared yet another Bradman-dominated series.
The second Test in Sydney saw Bradman and Sid Barnes share a first-class record partnership of for the fifth wicket, each scoring Australia retained the Ashes three-nil. Bradman had made a remarkable return. For him the most significant event of the Indian tour was that in a match for an Australian XI against the tourists in Sydney he scored his century of centuries in first-class cricket, making runs in minutes.
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During the fourth Test against India, he announced his availability to tour England, but also that he would retire afterwards. Although reluctant to lead another demanding tour, he felt a continuing responsibility to his team and to Ashes cricket. The tour was welcomed in England as affirmation of a return to normality after six long years of war.
His contributions included in the first Test at Nottingham and not out in the fourth, during which—on a worn Headingley pitch—he and Morris put on for the second wicket, while his team snared an unexpected win by scoring over runs on the last day. His captain, however, reasoned that the team already had enough top-class batsmen, and so used him primarily as a bowler.
Having received a tumultuous welcome from the crowd and three cheers from the English players, he was bowled second ball for a duck by Eric Hollies. He had needed only four runs to finish his career with a Test average of After this game Bradman hit consecutive centuries in his last three first-class innings in England. In January Bradman was knighted: thirty years later he would be appointed AC.
A testimonial match was held for him in Melbourne in December , and in February the Kippax-Oldfield testimonial match marked his final appearance at Sydney. He scored 30 in his only innings, and his playing career concluded with his being helped off the field after spraining an ankle. At the time of his retirement, the next highest average by a player of twenty Tests or more was that of George Headley of the West Indies, After the war, he was able to return to the national side.
His final tour was the tour of England, which captivated a nation. It was said, Bradman was second only to Churchill in the degree of fame. Despite his waning powers, he still managed to score 11 centuries and 2, runs on tour. The Australians won the tour In the last test at Lords, Bradman went out to bat with an average of England were favourites to win the Ashes series, [ 43 ] and if the Australians were to exceed expectations their young batsmen, Bradman and Jackson, needed to prosper.
With his elegant batting technique, Jackson appeared the brighter prospect of the pair. His batting reached a new level in the Second Test at Lord's where he scored as Australia won and levelled the series. Later in life, Bradman rated this the best innings of his career as "practically without exception every ball went where it was intended to go".
In terms of runs scored, this performance was soon surpassed. He remains the only Test player to pass in one day's play. In the deciding Test at The Oval , England made During an innings stretching over three days due to intermittent rain, Bradman made yet another multiple century, this time , which helped give Australia a big lead of runs. In a crucial partnership with Jackson, Bradman battled through a difficult session when England fast bowler Harold Larwood bowled short on a pitch enlivened by the rain.
Wisden gave this period of play only a passing mention: [ 52 ]. On the Wednesday morning the ball flew about a good deal, both batsmen frequently being hit on the body A number of English players and commentators noted Bradman's discomfort in playing the short, rising delivery. Australia won the match by an innings and regained the Ashes.
The victory made an impact in Australia. With the economy sliding toward depression and unemployment rapidly rising, the country found solace in sporting triumph. The story of a self-taught year-old from the bush who set a series of records against the old rival made Bradman a national hero. In all, Bradman scored runs at an average of On the tour, the dynamic nature of Bradman's batting contrasted sharply with his quiet, solitary off-field demeanour.
He was described as aloof from his teammates and he did not offer to buy them a round of drinks, let alone share the money given to him by Whitelaw. On his return to Australia, Bradman was surprised by the intensity of his reception; he became a "reluctant hero". At each stop, Bradman received a level of adulation that "embarrassed" him.
This focus on individual accomplishment, in a team game, " Commenting on Australia's victory, the team's vice-captain Vic Richardson said, " My one idea when going into bat was to make runs for Australia. In —31, against the first West Indian side to visit Australia, Bradman's scoring was more sedate than in England — although he did make in minutes in the Third Test at Brisbane and in minutes in the following Test at Melbourne.
For NSW against the tourists, he made 30, and In the Test matches, he scored minutes , minutes , 2 and minutes ; his not out in the Fourth Test, at Adelaide, set a new record for the highest score in a Test in Australia. At this point, Bradman had played fifteen Test matches since the beginning of , scoring 2, runs at an average of During this phase of his career, his youth and natural fitness allowed him to adopt a "machine-like" approach to batting.
The South African fast bowler Sandy Bell described bowling to him as, "heart-breaking Between these two seasons, Bradman seriously contemplated playing professional cricket in England with the Lancashire League club Accrington , a move that, according to the rules of the day, would have ended his Test career.
In a second-class fixture in November , Bradman scored off 22 balls in a three over spell in a match for Blackheath against Lithgow. Bradman's score of included 14 sixes and 29 fours notably hitting more sixes in this one innings than he hit in his entire first class career. Bradman's chaotic wedding to Jessie Menzies in April epitomised these new and unwelcome intrusions into his private life.
The church "was under siege all throughout the day Playing 51 games in 75 days, Bradman scored 3, runs at Although the standard of play was not high, the effects of the amount of cricket Bradman had played in the three previous years, together with the strains of his celebrity status, began to show on his return home. It is almost time to request a legal limit on the number of runs Bradman should be allowed to make.
Within the Marylebone Cricket Club MCC , which administered English cricket at the time, few voices were more influential than "Plum" Warner 's, who, when considering England's response to Bradman, wrote that it "must evolve a new type of bowler and develop fresh ideas and strange tactics to curb his almost uncanny skill". To that end, Warner orchestrated the appointment of Douglas Jardine as England captain in , as a prelude to Jardine leading the —33 tour to Australia, with Warner as team manager.
He settled on the Nottinghamshire fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce as the spearheads for his tactics. In support, the England selectors chose another three pacemen for the squad. The unusually high number of fast bowlers caused a lot of comment in both countries and roused Bradman's own suspicions. Bradman had other problems to deal with at this time; among these were bouts of illness from an undiagnosed malaise which had begun during the tour of North America, [ 72 ] and that the Australian Board of Control had initially refused permission for him to write a column for the Sydney Sun newspaper.
In this match, Bradman faced the leg theory and later warned local administrators that trouble was brewing if it continued. Despite his absence, England employed what were already becoming known as the Bodyline tactics against the Australian batsmen and won an ill-tempered match. The public clamoured for the return of Bradman to defeat Bodyline: "he was the batsman who could conquer this cankerous bowling A standing ovation ensued that delayed play for several minutes.
The ball failed to rise and Bradman dragged it onto his stumps ; the first-ball duck was his first in a Test. The crowd fell into stunned silence as he walked off. However, Australia took a first innings lead in the match, and another record crowd on 2 January watched Bradman hit a counter-attacking second innings century.
His unbeaten from balls in a team total of helped set England a target of to win. The Third Test at the Adelaide Oval proved pivotal. There were angry crowd scenes after the Australian captain Bill Woodfull and wicket-keeper Bert Oldfield were hit by bouncers. An apologetic Warner entered the Australian dressing room and was rebuked by Woodfull.
Woodfull's remarks that " The tourists won the last three Tests convincingly and regained the Ashes. Bradman caused controversy with his own tactics.
Always seeking to score, and with the leg side packed with fielders, he often backed away and hit the ball into the vacant half of the outfield with unorthodox shots reminiscent of tennis or golf. Fingleton was in no doubt that Bradman's game altered irrevocably as a consequence of Bodyline, writing: [ 80 ]. Bodyline was specially prepared, nurtured for and expended on him and, in consequence, his technique underwent a change quicker than might have been the case with the passage of time.
Bodyline plucked something vibrant from his art. The constant glare of celebrity and the tribulations of the season forced Bradman to reappraise his life outside the game and to seek a career away from his cricketing fame. In his farewell season for NSW, Bradman averaged However, "he was unwell for much of the [English] summer, and reports in newspapers hinted that he was suffering from heart trouble".
Wisden wrote: [ 85 ]. Indeed at one period he created the impression that, to some extent, he had lost control of himself and went in to bat with an almost complete disregard for anything in the shape of a defensive stroke. At one stage, Bradman went thirteen first-class innings without a century, the longest such spell of his career, [ 86 ] prompting suggestions that Bodyline had eroded his confidence and altered his technique.
The Australians travelled to Sheffield and played a warm-up game before the Fourth Test. Bradman started slowly and then, " That evening, Bradman declined an invitation to dinner from Neville Cardus , telling the journalist that he wanted an early night because the team needed him to make a double century the next day. Cardus pointed out that his previous innings on the ground was , and the law of averages was against another such score.
Bradman told Cardus, "I don't believe in the law of averages". The effort of the lengthy innings stretched Bradman's reserves of energy, and he did not play again until the Fifth Test at The Oval, the match that would decide the Ashes. In the first innings at The Oval, Bradman and Ponsford recorded an even more massive partnership, this time runs.
It had taken them less than a month to break the record they had set at Headingley; this new world record was to last 57 years. For the fourth time in five series, the Ashes changed hands. Seemingly restored to full health, Bradman blazed two centuries in the last two games of the tour. However, when he returned to London to prepare for the trip home, he experienced severe abdominal pain.
It took a doctor more than 24 hours to diagnose acute appendicitis and a surgeon operated immediately. Bradman lost a lot of blood during the four-hour procedure and peritonitis set in. Penicillin and sulphonamides were still experimental treatments at this time; peritonitis was usually a fatal condition. Journalists were asked by their editors to prepare obituaries.
O'Reilly took a call from King George V's secretary asking that the King be kept informed of the situation. En route, she heard a rumour that her husband had died. He followed medical advice to convalesce, taking several months to return to Australia and missing the —35 Australian season. There was off-field intrigue in Australian cricket during the antipodean winter of Australia, scheduled to make a tour of South Africa at the end of the year, needed to replace the retired Woodfull as captain.
The Board of Control wanted Bradman to lead the team, yet, on 8 August, the board announced his withdrawal from the team due to a lack of fitness. Surprisingly, in the light of this announcement, Bradman led the South Australian team in a full programme of matches that season. He finished the season with in minutes , a South Australian record, made against Tasmania.
The bowler who dismissed him, Reginald Townley , would later become leader of the Tasmanian Liberal Party. Australia defeated South Africa 4—0 and senior players such as O'Reilly were pointed in their comments about the enjoyment of playing under Richardson's captaincy. For some, the prospect of playing under Bradman was daunting, as was the knowledge that he would additionally be sitting in judgement of their abilities in his role as a selector.
To start the new season, the Test side played a "Rest of Australia" team, captained by Bradman, at Sydney in early October He took time out of cricket for two weeks and on his return made in three hours against Victoria in the last match before the beginning of the Ashes series. The Test selectors made five changes to the team who had played in the previous Test match.
Significantly, Australia's most successful bowler, Clarrie Grimmett, was replaced by Ward, one of four players making their debut. Bradman's role in Grimmett's omission from the team was controversial and it became a theme that dogged Bradman as Grimmett continued to be prolific in domestic cricket while his successors were ineffective — he was regarded as having finished the veteran bowler's Test career in a political purge.
Australia fell to successive defeats in the opening two Tests, Bradman making two ducks in his four innings, [ ] [ ] and it seemed that the captaincy was affecting his form. Bradman won the toss on New Year's Day , but again failed with the bat, scoring just On the second day, rain dramatically altered the course of the game.
With the sun drying the pitch in those days, covers could not be used during matches Bradman declared to get England in to bat while the pitch was " sticky "; England also declared to get Australia back in, conceding a lead of Bradman countered by reversing his batting order to protect his run-makers while conditions improved. The ploy worked and Bradman went in at number seven.
In an innings spread over three days, he battled influenza while scoring off balls, sharing a record partnership of with Jack Fingleton , [ ] and Australia went on to victory. In , Wisden rated this performance as the best Test match innings of all time. The next Test, at the Adelaide Oval , was fairly even until Bradman played another patient second innings, making from balls.
Australia levelled the series when the erratic [ ] left-arm spinner "Chuck" Fleetwood-Smith bowled Australia to victory. In the series-deciding Fifth Test, Bradman returned to a more aggressive style in top-scoring with off balls in Australia's and Australia won by an innings. During the tour of England, Bradman played the most consistent cricket of his career.
In the First Test, England amassed a big first innings score and looked likely to win, but Stan McCabe made for Australia, a performance Bradman rated as the best he had ever seen. With Australia forced to follow-on , Bradman fought hard to ensure McCabe's effort was not in vain, and he secured the draw with not out. Australia's opportunity came at Headingley, a Test described by Bradman as the best he ever played in.
During the Australian innings, Bradman backed himself by opting to bat on in poor light conditions, reasoning that Australia could score more runs in bad light on a good pitch than on a rain affected pitch in good light, when he had the option to go off. An approaching storm threatened to wash the game out, but the poor weather held off and Australia managed to secure the win, a victory that retained the Ashes.
The euphoria of securing the Ashes preceded Australia's heaviest defeat. During his third over , he fractured his ankle and teammates carried him from the ground. At this point, Bradman felt that the burden of captaincy would prevent him from touring England again, although he did not make his doubts public. Despite the pressure of captaincy, Bradman's batting form remained supreme.
An experienced, mature player now commonly called "The Don" had replaced the blitzing style of his early days as the "Boy from Bowral". The next season, Bradman made an abortive bid to join the Victoria state side. The Melbourne Cricket Club advertised the position of club secretary and he was led to believe that if he applied, he would get the job.
Turnbull won the first two games in the best-of-five game contest and led 8—3 in the third game with five match points, but Bradman won the game and the fourth. Turnbull led 8—5 in the fifth game but Bradman went on to win.
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The —40 season was Bradman's most productive ever for SA: 1, runs at an average of The outbreak of World War II led to the indefinite postponement of all cricket tours, and the suspension of the Sheffield Shield competition. The exertion of the job aggravated his chronic muscular problems, diagnosed as fibrositis. Surprisingly, in light of his batting prowess, a routine army test revealed that Bradman had poor eyesight.
Invalided out of service in June , Bradman spent months recuperating, unable even to shave himself or comb his hair due to the extent of the muscular pain he suffered. He resumed stockbroking during In his biography of Bradman, Charles Williams expounded the theory that the physical problems were psychosomatic, induced by stress and possibly depression; Bradman read the book's manuscript and did not disagree.
Although he found some relief in when referred to the Melbourne masseur Ern Saunders, Bradman permanently lost the feeling in the thumb and index finger of his dominant right hand. In June , Bradman faced a financial crisis when the firm of Harry Hodgetts collapsed due to fraud and embezzlement. The fallout led to a prison term for Hodgetts, and left a stigma attached to Bradman's name in the city's business community for many years.
Now working alongside some of the men he had battled in the s, Bradman quickly became a leading light in the administration of the game. With the resumption of international cricket, he was once more appointed a Test selector, and played a major role in planning for post-war cricket. In —46, Bradman suffered regular bouts of fibrositis while coming to terms with increased administrative duties and the establishment of his business.
Controversy emerged on the first day of the First Test at Brisbane.
Sir don bradman biography: Sir Donald George Bradman AC (27 August – 25 February ), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. [3] His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane Warne, among others, as making Bradman the "greatest sportsperson" in history.
After compiling an uneasy 28 runs, Bradman hit a ball to the gully fieldsman, Jack Ikin. Barnes later recalled that he purposely got out on because "it wouldn't be right for someone to make more runs than Bradman". Australia won both matches by an innings. Jack Fingleton speculated that had the decision at Brisbane gone against him, Bradman would have retired, such were his fitness problems.
He was the leading batsman on either side, with an average of Nearly , spectators watched the Tests, which helped lift public spirits after the war. India made its first tour of Australia in the —48 season. His last double century came at Adelaide , and he scored a century in each innings of the Melbourne Test.
Australia had assembled one of the great teams of cricket history. RC Robertson-Glasgow observed of Bradman that: [ 38 ]. Next to Mr. Winston Churchill , he was the most celebrated man in England during the summer of At last his batting showed human fallibility. Often, especially at the start of the innings, he played where the ball wasn't, and spectators rubbed their eyes.
Despite his waning powers, Bradman compiled 11 centuries on the tour, amassing 2, runs average In the Tests, he scored a century at Trent Bridge , but the performance most like his pre-war exploits came in the Fourth Test at Headingley. England declared on the last morning of the game, setting Australia a world record runs to win in only minutes on a heavily worn pitch.
In partnership with Arthur Morris , Bradman reeled off not out and the match was won with 15 minutes to spare. The journalist Ray Robinson called the victory "the 'finest ever' in its conquest of seemingly insuperable odds".
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He received a standing ovation from the crowd and three cheers from the opposition. A story developed over the years that claimed Bradman missed the ball because of tears in his eyes, [ ] a claim Bradman denied for the rest of his life. The Australian team won the Ashes 4—0, completed the tour unbeaten, and entered history as " The Invincibles ".
For Bradman, it was the most personally fulfilling period of his playing days, as the divisiveness of the s had passed. He wrote: [ ]. Knowing the personnel, I was confident that here at last was the great opportunity which I had longed for. A team of cricketers whose respect and loyalty were unquestioned, who would regard me in a fatherly sense and listen to my advice, follow my guidance and not question my handling of affairs The result is a sense of freedom to give full reign to your own creative ability and personal judgment.
So must ancient Italy have felt when she heard of the death of Hannibal ". Bradman's Test batting average of Wisden hailed Bradman as "the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games".