There may be some doubt as to whom the greatest fast bowler of all-time is. There may be some doubt as to whom the greatest spinner of all-time is. There may be some doubt as to whom the greatest wicket-keeper of all-time is. However, there is no doubt as to who the greatest batsman of all-time is. Which yardstick or parameter you use to judge greatness, no matter how skewed or biased you may be, the greatest batsman of all-time is Donald George Bradman. The margin between him and the second greatest batsman of all-time is probably as much as the margin between the 1st and the 20th best in any other sport. And that is not giving in to hyperbole.
Don Bradman was born on 27th August 1908 at Cootamundra in New South Wales. The fact that a young Bradman practiced with a cricket bat and a golf ball is part of Australian cricket folklore. During Bradman’s 20-year Test career, he was in the words of former Australian captain, Bill Woodfull, worth 3 batsmen to Australia. Bradman played in 52 Tests and scored 6996 runs at a batting average of 99.94 with 29 centuries and 13 fifties. Just to put things in perspective, out of the 310 Test batsmen who have scored a minimum of 2000 Test runs, the 2nd best batting average in Tests is 61.37 by Steve Smith. Bradman’s average is 62.85% more than the Steve Smith. That’s incredible when you consider that Bradman had these figures over 52 Tests.
During the 1920-21 season, Bradman’s father took him to see a match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). On that day Bradman told his father that he would never be satisfied until he played on that ground. Bradman scored 5028 runs in 37 Tests against England at a batting average of 89.78 with 19 centuries. This remains the record for the maximum number of runs and centuries scored by a player against a single opposition in Tests.
Bradman made his Test debut against England at the ‘Gabba’ in November 1928. He had a poor debut scoring 18 and 1 in his two innings. He was dropped to 12th man for the next Test, but when he was recalled for the 3rd Test at the MCG he acquitted himself well scoring 79 and 112. At that time, he became the youngest batsman to score a Test century. He scored another century in the 5th Test at Melbourne to cement his place in the Australian team. During the next Ashes series in England in 1930, he scored 974 runs in 5 Tests at an average of 139.14 with 4 centuries. Until that year, Test cricket had never witnessed such phenomenal run scoring. Australia won the 5 Test series 2-1 mainly due to Bradman’s gluttony for runs. The English bowlers were clueless to stop the barrage of runs from his bat and knew that of they were to have any chance of winning the Test series in their next tour of Australia in 1931-32, they had to find a way to curb his run scoring.
The greatest compliment that one can give Bradman is that an entire tactic was devised to counter his voracious run scoring. ‘Bodyline’ was one of the most controversial tactics ever devised and it was mainly done to find a way to dismiss Bradman for as few runs as possible. Plum Warner felt that England had to find a new kind of bowler and formulate a different strategy if they had to have any chance of dismissing Bradman cheaply. Therefore, he orchestrated the appointment of England’s Douglas Jardine as captain. When Bradman had scored 232 against England at the Oval in 1930, he had struggled against bouncers. Seeing his discomfort against the short ball, Jardine decided to combine short pitched bowling with leg theory to combat Bradman. He recruited two fast bowlers from Nottinghamshire in Harold Larwood and Bill Voce to be the spearhead for his tactics. England’s selectors bolstered their touring squad with another 3 pacemen and this drew comments from both countries and raised the suspicion of Bradman.
It is important to consider the events leading up to this series. Bradman was suffering from bouts of illness from an undiagnosed malaise that began during the tour of North America. Bradman had signed a two-year contract to write columns on cricket for the Sydney Sun. The Australian Board of Control had initially refused permission to allow him to honour his contract.
During one of the games preceding the Tests, which was a fixture against an Australian XI in Melbourne, Jardine decided to give the new tactics a trial. During the match Bradman faced this leg theory and immediately warned the administrators that trouble was brewing if these tactics were allowed to continue. Bradman withdrew from the 1st Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground amid rumors that he had suffered a breakdown. In spite of his absence, England adopted what was becoming known as the Bodyline tactics and won an ill-tempered match. The Australian public clamoured for Bradman’s return as they felt that only he could combat Jardine’s Bodyline tactics. Recovering from his illness, Bradman returned to the Australian side for the 2nd Test. A then world record of 63,993 flocked to the ground to watch the maestro in action. Upon Bradman’s arrival at the crease on the 1st day, a standing ovation ensued, that delayed play for several minutes. Bradman dragged his first ball onto his stumps and the duck was his 1st in a Test. In the 2nd innings Bradman hit a brilliant unbeaten counter-attacking 103 and Australia set England a target of 251 which they failed to reach. The series was levelled at 1 apiece and there were hopes that the controversial tactic was defeated.
During the 3rd Test at the Adelaide Oval, Australia’s captain Bill Woodfull and wicket-keeper Bert Oldfield were felled by bouncers. This led to accusations from the Australian captain that England were not playing according to the spirit of the game. With the support of the MCC, England continued with the Bodyline tactics in the remaining 3 Tests and won all 3 to clinch the series 4-1. Bradman scored 396 runs at an average of 56.57 in the series and that is a testament to his genius. Most batsmen would be happy to have a batting average like that over their entire career, while Bradman managed this over the course of his worst ever series. Bradman innovated his game during Bodyline as he saw that Jardine had packed most of his fielders on the leg side. Therefore, he backed away to leg and hit the ball into the vacant off-side with shots that were reminiscent of tennis and golf. These Bodyline tactics were later on outlawed and Bradman returned to his voracious run scoring ways. Bradman played in 11 series and his lowest average in a series was the 56.57 that he achieved during the Bodyline series. During his tenure as captain, Australia became the only team in Tests, to come back from a 2-0 deficit in Tests to win a 5 Test series against England 3-2 in 1936-1937. During the 3rd Test of the series at Melbourne in January 1937, Bradman reversed Australia’s batting order by sending some tail-enders before accomplished batsmen like himself to give the wicket time to ease out. This was a master stroke and showed that in addition to being a great player he was also a shrewd thinker.
During the last Test of Australia’s tour of England in 1938, England amassed 903/7 in their 1st innings. Even then England’s captain Wally Hammond only declared when he was certain that Bradman would not be able to bat due to injury. There can be no greater compliment to the Don as he was fondly called. During Bradman’s penultimate Test at Headingley, he scored an unbeaten 173 as Australia chased down a target of 404. This was the first time that a target in excess of 400 was chased down in Tests. However, Bradman was denied a fairytale finish as he was bowled for a duck in his last Test innings by Eric Hollies. Bradman was deprived of playing 8 years of cricket in his prime due to the Second World War and the mind boggles as to what he would have achieved statistically if he hadn’t been deprived of playing cricket in his pomp. Bradman was the 2nd batsman in the history of Tests to score a triple century and the first batsman to score 2 triple centuries in Tests. This feat has later on been replicated by 3 other batsmen.
Bradman was one of South Australia’s delegates to the Board of Control from 1945-1980. He was a committee member of the SACA between 1935 and 1986. Apart from two years in the early 1950s, Bradman filled a selector’s berth in the Australia Test team from 1936 till 1971. During the 1950s, a defensive style of play tended to become the norm in world cricket, but Bradman as a selector tended to favour attacking cricketers who played positively and to entertain. He formed an alliance with the incumbent Australian captain, Richie Benaud in which the players played to entertain and this met with some success. Bradman twice served as Chairman of the Board of Control, from 1960-1963 and from 1969-1972. During his 2nd stint he dealt with a major controversy in South Africa’s proposed of Australia in 1971-1972. On Bradman’s recommendation the tour was cancelled. The famous cricket journalist, Mike Coward had this to say about Bradman, “Bradman was more than a cricket player non-pareil. He was an astute and progressive administrator, an expansive thinker, philosopher and writer of the game. Indeed, in some respects he was as persuasive, powerful and influential a figure off the ground as he was on it”
During the late 1970s, Bradman played an important role during the World Series Cricket schism as a member of a special Australian Cricket Board committee formed to handle the crisis. He was criticized for not voicing an opinion but it was felt that he dealt with the controversy far more pragmatically than other administrators. Richie Benaud described Bradman as a brilliant administrator and businessman stating that he should not be underestimated. Another great Australian captain, Ian Chappell fought with Bradman over player payments in the 1970s and said that Bradman was parsimonious.
The biggest compliment that one could ever pay Bradman is the coining of the adjective ‘Bradmanesque’ which is applied to describe a batsman’s phenomenal run scoring in cricket. Steve Waugh once described Muttiah Muralitharan as the ‘Don Bradman’ of bowling. Bradman himself wrote 4 books on cricket.
Don Bradman’s book- The story of my cricketing life with hints of batting, bowling and fielding in 1930
My Cricketing Life in 1938
Farewell to Cricket in 1950 and
The Art of Cricket in 1958.
The story of the Bodyline Series was retold in a 1984 television mini-series with Gary Sweet playing the role of Bradman. Bradman has also been the subject of more autobiographies than any other Australian apart from the bushranger, Ned Kelly.
The Australian Cricket Hall of fame was created in Melbourne in 1996 and Bradman was named as one of its 10 inaugural members. In the year 2000, Bradman was selected by cricket experts as one of 5 Wisden Cricketers of the Century. There were 100 members on the panel and all 100 voted for Bradman. The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame inducted him on 19th November 2009.
In the 1963 edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, Bradman was selected by Neville Cardus as one of the Six Giants of the Wisden Century. This was a special commemorative selection requested by Wisden for its 100th edition. 3 years before his death, Bradman became the first living Australian to be featured on an Australian postage stamp.
In conclusion, there will be many batsmen who will surpass Bradman’s 6996 Test runs and his 29 centuries. However, it is safe to say that no batsman who plays for any length of time will surpass his Test batting average of 99.94. He will without a shadow of doubt be considered Test cricket’s greatest ever batsman.
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