Sports Card World: Tribute to Sir Donald Bradman (Part 1)
132 & 127* in 1947-48  
Bradman in full flight  
Bradman not only scored a lot of runs in First Class cricket, but he              also scored his runs quickly. In innings of 50 or more he scored at              a rate of 42 runs per hour, 100 or more at 44 runs/hour, and in              innings over 200 he increased his rate to 49 runs/hour.  
Bradman's fastest First Class century took only 70 minutes. This was              achieved in his innings of 369 for South Australia against Tasmania,              during the 1935-36 season.    
His slowest century took 253 minutes when he and Bill Brown were              successfully saving the Trent Bridge Test in 1938.  
During his career, Bradman managed a slightly higher batting average              when he was captain of the team. In Tests, he averaged 101.51 when              captain compared with 98.69 as a player. In all First Class matches,              he averaged 98.78 as captain compared with 91.57 as a player.  
During his Test Match career, Bradman was never dismissed in the              90s. Once he reached 90, he always went on to score a century or              more.  
1998: The Don turns 90    
During his career, Don Bradman only played First Class cricket in              two countries, Australia and England.  
Bradman's average in the first innings of all Test matches in which              he played was 97.85. His average in the second innings was 104.50.              This statistic is quite amazing given that Bradman played on wickets              that were uncovered !  
In              Bradman's final Test Match at The Oval in 1948, he only needed 4              runs to finish his Test career with an average of 100 or more.  Unfortunately, he was bowled second ball by Eric Hollies for              cricket's most famous duck.  
The following table indicates the number of Test centuries Bradman              scored at the various cricket grounds in England and Australia.
     Melbourne  9
     The Oval  2
     Sydney  2  
Bradman's effect on the result of any Test match was profound. In              Test Matches that resulted in an Australian victory, he averaged              130.08. In drawn games, his average was 111.90 and in Test Matches              that Australia lost, his average was 43.27.  
1948: For the last time  
On              four occasions, Bradman scored a century in both innings of a First              Class match.    
Bradman toured England four times, 1930, 1934, 1938 and 1948: the              last two times as captain.    
Sir Donald is the only Australian cricketer to be knighted for              services to cricket.  
Bradman's grandfather was christened as "Bradman" instead of the              more commonly used surname, "Bradnam."  
Don's father, George, died aged 85 at Berrima, NSW, on 18th April,              1961 and his mother, Emily, died aged 73 at Campbelltown NSW, on              December 16th 1944.  
The Bradman smile
 
On Sunday morning 25th February 2001,              Sir Donald Bradman died at his home in the Adelaide suburb of              Kensington. It is believed that Sir Donald died peacefully in his              sleep after a bout of pneumonia.
Sports Card World wishes to recognise              Sir Donald as Australia's greatest ever sportsman. Bradman was a              unique sporting phenomenon ! An athlete who stood so far above any              other in his sport that his records, average and overall performance              have never been equalled .... and probably never will be !
Donald George Bradman                    was born on 27th August 1908 in the western New South Wales                    town of Cootamundra. He was the fifth child of George and                    Emily Bradman who lived in Yeo Yeo, about 25 km from                    Cootamundra. When Don was two years of age, the family moved                    to a weatherboard house in Shepherd St, Bowral.
Don attended the                    Bowral School and from an early age displayed excellent                    sporting and coordination skills.
Because of a lack of any organized                    sport and a shortage of children in his neighbourhood, young                    Donald devised a game in his own backyard. It consisted of                    throwing a golf ball against the brick base of a water tank                    and hitting the ball with a cricket stump for a bat.
It was probably this simple game                    that honed his reflexes and developed the eye movement and                    coordination and that was to become the trademark of his                    fabulous cricket career.
Apart from school and backyard cricket,              young Don had a particularly busy and active childhood. In addition              to being a golf caddie, he learnt piano, attended choir practice and              helped his father who was a carpenter and fencer. Don was an              accomplished pianist who was taught by his sister, Lilian. It was              the beginning of a life-long love of fine music.
As a teenager, he continued to be busy playing rugby, tennis, cricket and athletics. In 1923, he actually              quit cricket for almost two seasons to play tennis.
At the age of 12, Don                    Bradman was asked to play for the Bowral High School senior                    eleven. In his second game, he scored his first century (115)                    on the oval that now bears his name. In this particular match,                    Don also took eight wickets.
On weekends, Don was scorer for the Bowral Senior X1 which                    included his father, brother and two uncles. On one occasion,                    the team was a player short and the young Bradman was invited                    to bat at the fall of the eighth wicket and scored 37 not out.                    In the return innings the next week, he scored 29 not out on                    the Glebe wicket. For his remarkable achievement, Don was                    given a bat by one of the senior team members. Don's father                    had to saw three inches off the bat so that the young Don                    could use it.
That season, Don                    begged his father to take him to the Sydney Cricket Ground to                    see the final Test between England and Australia. Bradman                    watched in awe as Charles McCarthy make 170. From that moment                    the young Bradman vowed that he would never be satisfied until                    he played cricket on the S.C.G.
Bradman circa 1927
Bradman left school                    in 1922 at the age of fourteen. He began work for Percy                    Westbrook as a clerk in a Bowral real estate agency. By the                    time he was seventeen, he was beginning to attract                    considerable attention in Sydney with his prodigious scoring.                    In 1926, Bradman scored 234 for Bowral against Wingello. One                    of the opposition bowlers was Bill "Tiger" O'Reilly who                    Bradman later described as, "The best bowler I ever faced."
In the final match of that season,                    Bradman scored his first triple century and the legend began                    to blossom.
On October 5th 1926,                    at the age of 18, Bradman was invited to attend NSW state                    training. He also agreed to play Sydney grade cricket for St.                    George providing the club paid his return train fare from                    Bowral. During this period, Don had to get up before 5 a.m. to                    catch the train to Sydney, often not getting home until                    midnight.
In 1927, Bradman was selected to play Sheffield Shield for                    NSW. In his first game of First Class cricket, the young                    Bradman scored 118 against South Australia on the Adelaide                    Oval. He became the 20th Australian to score a century on                    First Class debut. Now fondly referred to as "The Boy from                    Bowral," he left home in 1928 to live in Sydney.
Early portrait of Bradman wearing St. George cap
In November 1928, he                    scored 87 and 132 not out against the touring MCC side. A                    short time later, at the tender age of 20, Donald George Bradman was selected in the Australian Test team to play in                    the First Test against England in Brisbane.
Australia's team for Bradman's first test,                    1928
Standing from the left;                    Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford, Bert Ironmonger, Don Blackie,                    Otto Northling, Stork Hendry. Seated (from the left) Vic                    Richardson, Clarrie Grimmett, Jack Ryder, Don Bradman, Bert                    Oldfield, Alan Kippax.
Bradman's first Test efforts were far              from auspicious and Australia lost the match by a record 675 runs.              Bradman scored 18 in the first innings and 1 in the second. For the              first and only time during his career, Bradman was dropped to              twelfth man for the second Test in Sydney. Recalled for the Third              Test in Melbourne, Bradman clearly signalled his emerging greatness.              With scores of 79 and 112, the MCG crowd recorded a tumultuous              reception for the boy wonder from the bush. From this point, Bradman              was to stamp his authority on World cricket for the next twenty              years.
Nottingham 1948
Bradman in the nets
The Stance 1928 
The year 1930                    signalled more incredible feats and elevated Bradman to a                    level not previously considered possible. In January, he made                    a World record score of 452 not out for NSW against Queensland                    at the SCG. The innings lasted 415 minutes and included 49                    fours. Later in the year, he was chosen to make his first tour                    of England. Up until this point in time, the English players                    had been unimpressed with his deeds and they believed his                    unorthodox style would not be successful on the slower English                    wickets. 
Were they in for a surprise!
In his first First                    Class match on tour, Bradman scored 236 in a match against                    Worcester. This unleashed a furious onslaught against English                    bowlers that was to shake the English establishment to its                    very foundations. In the Test matches of 1930, Bradman scored                    8, 131, 254, 1, 334, 14 and 232 - a total of 974 runs at an                    amazing average of 139.14.
Photo at right: Bradman and Archie Jackson at the Oval, 1930. The two young                    Australians put together a partnership of 243 on a rain                    affected wicket. Unfortunately Archie was to die soon after in                    January 1933.
During the entire                    1930 English tour, Bradman scored almost 3000 runs at an                    average of 98.66. The innings of 334 at Headingley included                    309 runs in a single day. This score is still the highest Test                    score by an Australian - a record shared with Mark Taylor who                    also scored 334 not out against Pakistan at Peshawar in the                    2nd Test of the 1998/99 season.
Photo at Left: Bradman walks in after                    breaking the record score in Tests with 334 at Headingley in                    July 1930.
1930: Bradman salutes the crowd after                    passing 300 on his way to the record score of 334 at                    Headingley
Following his very successful English              tour, Bradman played a Test series at home against the West Indies              in 1930-31 and South Africa in 1931-32, and was even more              devastating. His scores in all matches against South Africa  were              30, 135, 226, 219, 112, 2, 167, and 299 not out. 1190 runs at an              average of 170!  In Tests, his average was over 200. This dispelled              any thoughts that 1930 was just a flash in the pan.
Bradman's incredible feats in the early              1930s were of such a magnitude that the English team began to think of ways to curb Bradman's              brilliance for the up-coming tour to Australia in 1932-33.     The              result -Bodyline !
Douglas Jardine
Bodyline was arguably                    the darkest chapter in the history of Anglo-Australian                    cricket. The man behind the tactic was newly appointed England                    captain, Douglas Jardine. Educated at Winchester and Oxford,                    Jardine was all that was noble and proud in English cricket.                    Born in India of Scottish parents, Jardine was, however, a                    ruthless and aloof man who was single-minded in his will to                    win and curb the brilliance of Bradman.
During the 1930 Australian tour to England, Jardine believed                    that Bradman displayed a weakness against fast short pitched                    deliveries.
With this in mind,                    Jardine set packed leg-side fields and ordered his fastest                    bowlers, headed by Harold Larwood, to pitch the ball short and                    deliberately aim at the rib-cage of Bradman and other                    Australian batsmen. Larwood was a humble man who had come from                    the a working class background in the Lancashire mines.                    However, he was a professional cricketer and had no                    alternative but to follow his captain's instructions.
With the series tied at one all after the first two Tests, the                    controversy of Bodyline began to reach a crescendo during the                    third Test in Adelaide.
Harold Larwood
Australia's Bill Woodfull
Australian batsmen,                    Bill Woodfull (shown left) and Bert Oldfield were both injured                    as a direct result of the Bodyline tactics. When England's                    manager, Pelham Warner visited the Australian dressing room to                    offer his sympathy, Woodfull uttered the now famous words, "There are two teams out there on the Oval. One is playing                    cricket, the other is not!"
The Australian Board of Control sent an urgent telegram of                    complaint to the M.C.C. which threatened diplomatic                    relationships between the two countries and almost cancelled                    the remainder of the tour. A transcript of each telegram reads                    as follow:
Telegram