Don Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman , nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane Warne, among others, to make Bradman the "greatest sportsperson" in history. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 is considered by some to be the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport.
The story that the young Bradman practised alone with a cricket stump and a golf ball is part of Australian folklore. His meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team took just over two years. Before his 22nd birthday, he had set many records for top-scoring, some of which still stand, and became Australia's sporting idol at the height of the Great Depression. This hero status grew and continued through the Second World War.
During a 20-year playing career, Bradman consistently scored at a level that made him, in the words of former Australia captain Bill Woodfull, "worth three batsmen to Australia". A controversial set of tactics, known as Bodyline, was specially devised by the England team to curb his scoring. As a captain and administrator, Bradman was committed to attacking, entertaining cricket; he drew spectators in record numbers. He hated the constant adulation, however, and it affected how he dealt with others. The focus of attention on Bradman's individual performances strained relationships with some teammates, administrators and journalists, who thought him aloof and wary. Following an enforced hiatus due to the Second World War, he made a dramatic comeback, captaining an Australian team known as "The Invincibles" on a record-breaking unbeaten tour of England.
A complex and highly driven man, not given to close personal relationships, Bradman retained a pre-eminent position in the game by acting as an administrator, selector and writer for three decades following his retirement. Even after he became reclusive in his declining years, Bradman's opinion was highly sought, and his status as a national icon was still recognised. Almost fifty years after his retirement as a Test player, in 1997, Prime Minister John Howard called him the "greatest living Australian". Bradman's image has appeared on postage stamps and coins, and a museum dedicated to his life was opened while he was still living. On the centenary of his birth, 27 August 2008, the Royal Australian Mint issued a $5 commemorative gold coin with Bradman's image. In 2009, he was inducted posthumously as an inaugural member into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Early years
Donald George Bradman was the youngest son of George and Emily Bradman, and was born on 27 August 1908 in Cootamundra, New South Wales. He had a brother, Victor, and three sisters Islet, Lilian and Elizabeth May.Bradman was of English heritage on both sides of his family. His grandfather Charles Andrew Bradman had left Withersfield, Suffolk, for Australia. In 1930, when he played at Cambridge during his first tour of England, 21-year-old Bradman took the opportunity to trace his forebears in the region. Bradman was also partly of Italian lineage; one of his great-grandfathers had been one of the first Italians to migrate to Australia in 1826.
Bradman's parents lived in the hamlet of Yeo Yeo, near Stockinbingal. His mother, Emily, gave birth to him at the Cootamundra home of Granny Scholz, a midwife, which is now the Bradman Birthplace Museum. Bradman's mother had hailed from Mittagong in the NSW Southern Highlands and in 1911, when Bradman was about two-and-a-half years old, his parents decided to relocate to Bowral, close to Emily's family and friends in Mittagong, as life at Yeo Yeo was proving difficult. Emily, who bowled left-arm spin, played in the women's intercolonial cricket competition between the main states in the 1890s.
Bradman practised batting incessantly during his youth. He invented his own solo cricket game, using a cricket stump for a bat and a golf ball. A water tank, mounted on a curved brick stand, stood on a paved area behind the family home. When hit into the curved brick facing of the stand, the ball rebounded at high speed and varying anglesand Bradman would attempt to hit it again. This form of practice developed his timing and reactions to a high degree. In more formal cricket, Bradman hit his first century at the age of 12, with an undefeated 115 playing for Bowral Public School against Mittagong High School.
Bush cricketer
During the 1920–21 season, Bradman acted as scorer for the local Bowral team, captained by his uncle George Whatman. In October 1920, he filled in when the team was one man short, scoring 37* and 29* on debut. During the season, Bradman's father took him to the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch the fifth Ashes Test match. On that day, Bradman formed an ambition, telling his father: "I shall never be satisfied until I play on this ground." Bradman left school in 1922 and went to work for a local real estate agent who encouraged his sporting pursuits by giving him time off when necessary. He gave up cricket in favour of tennis for two years but resumed playing cricket in 1925–26.Bradman became a regular selection for the Bowral team; several outstanding performances earned him the attention of Sydney newspapers. Competing on matting-over-concrete pitches, Bowral played other rural towns in the Berrima District competition. Against Wingello, a team that included the future Test bowler Bill O'Reilly, Bradman made 234. In the competition final against Moss Vale, which extended over five consecutive Saturdays, Bradman scored 320 not out.
During the following Australian winter, the ageing Australian team lost The Ashes in England, and a number of Test players retired. The New South Wales Cricket Association began a hunt for new talent. Mindful of Bradman's big scores for Bowral, the association wrote to him, requesting his attendance at a practice session in Sydney. He was subsequently chosen for the "Country Week" tournaments at both cricket and tennis, to be played during separate weeks. Bradman's boss presented him with an ultimatum: he could have only one week away from work, and therefore had to choose between the two sports. He chose cricket.
Bradman's performances during Country Week resulted in an invitation to play grade cricket in Sydney for St George in the 1926–27 season. He scored 110 on his debut, making his first century on a turf pitch. On 1 January 1927, Bradman turned out for the NSW second team. For the remainder of the season, he travelled the from Bowral to Sydney every Saturday to play for St George.
First-class debut
The next season continued the rapid rise of the "Boy from Bowral". Selected to replace the unfit Archie Jackson in the NSW team, Bradman made his first-class debut at the Adelaide Oval, aged 19. He secured the achievement of a hundred on debut, with an innings of 118 featuring what soon became his trademarksfast footwork, calm confidence and rapid scoring. The ball used during this match was gifted to Clarrie Grimmett. In the final match of the season, he made his first century at the SCG, against the Sheffield Shield champions Victoria. Despite his potential, Bradman was not chosen for the Australian second team to tour New Zealand.Bradman decided that his chances for Test selection would be improved by moving to Sydney for the 1928–29 season, when England were to tour in defence of the Ashes. Initially, he continued working in real estate, but later took a promotions job with the sporting goods retailer Mick Simmons Ltd. In the first match of the Sheffield Shield season, he scored a century in each innings against Queensland. He followed this with scores of 87 and 132 not out against the England touring team, and was rewarded with selection for the first Test, to be played at Brisbane.
Test career
At the age of 20, and playing in only his tenth first-class match, Bradman, nicknamed "Braddles" by his teammates, found his initial Test a harsh learning experience. Caught on a sticky wicket, Australia were all out for 66 in the second innings and lost by 675 runs. Following scores of 18 and 1, the selectors dropped Bradman to twelfth man for the Second Test. An injury to Bill Ponsford early in the match required Bradman to field as substitute while England amassed 636, following their 863 runs in the First Test. RS "Dick" Whitington wrote, "... he had scored only nineteen himself and these experiences appear to have provided him with food for thought". Recalled for the Third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Bradman scored 79 and 112 to become the youngest player to make a Test century, although the match was still lost. Another loss followed in the Fourth Test. Bradman reached 58 in the second innings and appeared set to guide the team to victory when he was run out. It was to be the only run out of his Test career. The losing margin was just twelve runs.File:Donald Bradman Sam Hood 1932.jpg|thumb|upright|Bradman with his Wm. Sykes bat, in the early 1930s. The "Don Bradman Autograph" bat is still manufactured today by Sykes' successor company, Slazenger.
The improving Australians did manage to win the Fifth and final Test. Bradman top-scored with 123 in the first innings and was at the wicket in the second innings when his captain, Jack Ryder, hit the winning runs. Bradman completed the season with 1,690 first-class runs, averaging 93.88, and his first multiple century in a Sheffield Shield match, not out against Victoria, set a new ground record for the SCG. Bradman averaged 113.28 in 1929–30. In a trial match to select the team that would tour England, he was last man out in the first innings for 124. As his team followed on, the skipper Bill Woodfull asked Bradman to keep the pads on and open the second innings. By the end of play, he was 205 not out, on his way to 225. Against Queensland at the SCG, Bradman set a then world record for first-class cricket by scoring 452 not out; he made his runs in only 415 minutes. Not long after the feat, he recalled:
Although he was an obvious selection to tour England, Bradman's unorthodox style raised doubts that he could succeed on the slower English pitches. Percy Fender wrote:
The encomiums were not confined to his batting gifts; nor did the criticism extend to his character. "Australia has unearthed a champion", said former Australian Test great Clem Hill, "self-taught, with natural ability. But most important of all, with his heart in the right place." Selector Dick Jones weighed in with the observation that it was "good to watch him talking to an old player, listening attentively to everything that is said and then replying with a modest 'thank you'."