Don Bradman

Name : Sir Donald George Bradman

Nick name : The Don, The Boy from Bowral Braddles.

Date of Birth : 27 August, 1908.

Place of Birth : CootaMundra, New South Wales, Australia.

Died : 25 February, 2001(age 92).

Batting Style : Right Handed Batsman.

Bowling Style : Right Arm Leg break.

Role : Batsman.

Height : 1.70m (5feet 7inches)

TEST Debut : 30 November 1928 vs. England.

Playing Teams : New South Wales (1927-34), South Australia (1935-49).

FIRST CLASS CAREER::

Matches : 234.

Runs : 28,067

Best : 452*

Average : 95.14(Bat)

100’s : 117

50’s : 69

Wickets : 36

Best figures : 3/35

Average : 37.97

Catches : 131.

TEST CAREER:

Matches: 52.

Runs : 6,996

Best : 334

Average : 99.94(Bat)

100’s : 29

50’s : 13

Wickets : 2

Best figures : 1/3

Average : 36.00

Catches : 32.

Bradmans Personal Information::

Sir Donald George Brad man, AC (27 August 1908-25 February 2001), often referred to as The Don, was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Brad man’s career Test batting average of 99.94 has been claimed to be statistically the greatest achievement in any major sport.

Donald Bradman was the youngest child of George and Emily (nee whatman) Bradman, and was born on 27 August 1908 at Cootamundra, New South Wales (NSW). He had a brother, Victor, and three sisters—Islet, Lilian and Elizabeth May. When Bradman was about two-and-a-half years old, his parents moved to Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands.

The story that the young Brad man practiced alone with a cricket stump and a golf ball is part of Australian folklore. Brad man’s meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team took just over two years. Before his 22^nd Birthday, he had set many records for high scoring, some of which still, stand, and became Australia’s sporting idol at the height of the Great Depression.

A collection of Brahman’s private letters was published in 2004, giving researchers new insights into Brad man’s personal life.

Bradman first met Jessie Martha Menzies in 1920 when she boarded with the Bradman family, to be closer to school in Bowral. The couple married at St Paul’s Anglican Church at Burwood, Sydney on 30 April 1932. During their 65-year marriage, Jessie was "shrewd, reliable, selfless, and above all, uncomplicated ... she was the perfect foil to his concentrated, and occasionally mercurial character". Bradman paid tribute to his wife numerous times, once saying succinctly, "I would never have achieved what I achieved without Jessie".

The Bradmans lived in the same modest, suburban house in Holden Street; Kensington Park in Adelaide for all but the first three years of their married life. They experienced much personal tragedy in raising their children. Their first-born son died as an infant in 1936, their second son, John (born in 1939) contracted polio, and their daughter, Shirley, born in 1941, had cerebral palsy since her birth. His family name proved a burden for John Bradman; he changed his last name to Bradsen by deed poll in 1972. Although claims were made that he became estranged from his father, it was more a matter of "the pair inhabit different worlds”. After the cricketer's death, a collection of personal letters written by Bradman to his close friend Rohan Rivett between 1953 and 1977 was released and gave researchers new insights into Bradman’s family life, including the strain between father and son.

Bradman’s reclusive ness in later life is partly attributable to the on-going health problems of his wife, particularly following the open-heart surgery Jessie underwent in her 60s. Lady Bradman died in 1997, aged 88, from cancer. This had a dispiriting effect on Bradman, but the relationship with his son improved; to the extent that John resolved to change his name back to Bradman. Since his father’s death, John Bradman has become the spokesperson for the family and has been involved in defending the Bradman legacy in a number of disputes. The relationship between Bradman and his wider family is less clear, although nine months after Bradman’s death, his nephew Paul Bradman criticized him as a "snob" and a "loner" who forgot his connections in Bowral and who failed to attend the funerals of Paul's mother and father.

After his return to Australia, Bradman played in his own Testimonial match at Melbourne, scoring his 117th and last century, and receiving £9,342 in proceeds. He was made a Knight Bachelor for his services to the game in the 1949 New Year’s Honours List, and the following year he published a memoir, Farewell to Cricket. Bradman accepted offers from the Daily Mail to travel with, and write about, the 1953 and 1956 Australian teams in England. The Art of Cricket, his final book published in 1958, is an instructional manual.

Bradman retired from his stockbroking business in June 1954, depending on the "comfortable" income earned as a board member of 16 publicly listed companies. His highest profile affiliation was with Argo Investments Limited, where he was Chairman for a number of years. Charles Williams commented that, "[b]usiness was excluded on medical grounds, [so] the only sensible alternative was a career in the administration of the game which he loved and to which he had given most of his active life".

Bradman was honored at a number of cricket grounds, notably when his portrait was hung in the Long Room at Lord's; until Shane Warne's portrait was added in 2005, Bradman was one of just three Australians to be honored in this way. Bradman inaugurated a "Bradman Stand" at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1974; the Adelaide Oval also opened a Bradman Stand in 1990. Later in 1974, he attended a Lord's Taverners function in London where he experienced heart problems, which forced him to limit his public appearances to select occasions only. With his wife, Bradman returned to Bowral in 1976, where the new cricket ground was named in his honor. He gave the keynote speech at the historic Centenary Test at Melbourne in 1977.

On 16 June 1979, the Australian government awarded Bradman the nation’s highest civilian honour, Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). In 1980, he resigned from the ACB, to lead a more secluded life.

Starting from his career:

Bradman practiced 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 angles—and Bradman would attempt to hit it again. This form of practice developed his timing and reactions to a high degree. In more formal cricket, he hit his first century at the age of 12, playing for Bowral Public School against Mittagong High School.

In 1920–21, Bradman acted as scorer for the local Bowral team, captained by his uncle George Whatman, and once filled in when the team was short of players, scoring 37 not out. During the season, Bradman's father took him to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) to watch the fifth Ashes Test match. On that day, Bradman formed an ambition. "I shall never be satisfied", he told his father, "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 favor 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 the Sydney daily press. 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 (1926), an 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. His 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 wicket. On 1 January 1927, he turned out for the NSW second team. For the remainder of the season, Bradman traveled the 130 kilometers (81 mi) from Bowral to Sydney every Saturday to play for St George.

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. His innings of 118 featured what soon became his trademarks—fast footwork, calm confidence and rapid scoring. 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 and then made 87 and 132 not out against England. This earned him selection for the first Test at Brisbane.

Bradman with his Wm. Sykes bat, in the early 1930s. The "Don Bradman Autograph" bat is still manufactured today by Sykes' successor company, Slazenger.

Playing in only his 10th 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 Whittington 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 Melbourne, 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 and the losing margin was just 12 runs.

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, 340 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 world record for first-class cricket by scoring 452 not out; he made his runs in only 415 minutes.

... he will always be in the category of the brilliant, if unsound, ones. Promise there is in Bradman in plenty, though watching him does not inspire one with any confidence that he desires to take the only course which will lead him to a fulfilment of that promise. He makes a mistake, and then makes it again and again; he does not correct it, or look as if he were trying to do so. He seems to live for the exuberance of the moment.

... he will always be in the category of the brilliant, if unsound, ones. Promise there is in Bradman in plenty, though watching him does not inspire one with any confidence that he desires to take the only course which will lead him to a fulfilment of that promise. He makes a mistake, and then makes it again and again; he does not correct it, or look as if he were trying to do so. He seems to live for the exuberance of the moment.

Inn: N0tOut: Best: Agre: Avg: 100s: 100s/inns:
Ashes Tests:: 63 7 334 5,028 89.78 19 30.2%
All Tests:: 80 10 334 6,996 99.94 29 36.3%
Sheffield Shield:: 96 15 452* 8,926 110.19 36 37.5%
All First Class:: 338 43 452* 28,067 95.10 117 34.6%
Grade:: 93 17 303 6,598 86.80 28 30.1%
All Second Class:: 331 320* 22,664 84.80 94 28.4%

		Batt				Bowl
O opposition	Matches	Runs	Average	High Score	100 / 50	Runs	Wickets
EEngland	37	5028	89.78	334	19/12	51
I India	5	715	178.75	201	4/1	4	0
S SSouthAfrica	5	806	201.50	299*	4/0	2	0
WWest IIndies	5	447	74.50	223	2/0	15	1
Ooverall	52	6996	99.94	334	29/13	72	2

Test Records of Bradman

• Highest career batting average (minimum 20 innings): 99.94
• Highest series batting average (5 Test series): 201.50 (1931–32)
• Highest ratio of centuries per innings played: 36.25% (29 centuries from 80 innings)
• Highest 5th wicket partnership: 405 (with Sid Barnes, 1946–47)
• Highest 6th wicket partnership: 346 (with Jack Fingleton, 1936–37)
• Highest score by a number 5 batsman: 304 (1934)
• Highest score by a number 7 batsman: 270 (1936–37)
• Most runs against one opponent: 5,028 (v England)
• Most runs in one series: 974 (1930)
• Most centuries scored in a single session of play: 6 (1 pre lunch, 2 lunch-tea, 3 tea-stumps)
• Most runs in one day’s play: 309 (1930)
• Most double centuries: 12
• Most double centuries in a series: 3 (1930)
• Most triple centuries: 2 (equal with Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag)
• Most consecutive matches in which he made a century: 6 (the last three Tests in 1936–37, and the first three Tests in 1938)