The Greatest ever to hold a cricket bat, Sir Donald Bradman, made his test debut against England in Brisbane on this day. His cricketing career would be remembered as a watershed period in the history of this game. He is not just the greatest ever to hold a cricket bat but an eternal ambassador of the game. “The Don” of cricket inspired many generations of Australian cricketers and will continue to do so but his fame is not only restricted to the Australian continent. In the age of no television and social media, his reputation traversed the lengths of oceans and arid expanses of deserts to establish him as the greatest ever to play this game.
Career Overview
Sir Don Bradman played 52 test matches for Australia from 1928 to 1948. Bradman made 6996 runs at an unbelievable average of 99.94. He made 29 centuries in his test career along with 13 half-centuries which reflects his unparalleled conversion rate and knack of playing big innings and scoring giant centuries. His individual best score was 334 runs which he made against England at Leeds in 1930.
In that era, he troubled the arch-rivals England so much that the English captain Douglas Jardine had to come up with an idea of targeting the body of the Australian players with short-pitched deliveries. This whole strategy was predominantly aimed at clipping the wings of only one player, Sir Don Bradman. That series is famously or rather infamously known as the Bodyline series which was played in 1932-33. There are very few players who force the opposition to try out things that are unheard of and sometimes unethical as well, Bradman was one such player.
Bradman created an awful lot of records in his career and some of them still stand unbroken. He made the most runs in a series by a captain when he gathered 810 runs in the Ashes of 1936/37.
His legacy won’t be defined by his incredible stats or records but by his ability to master an art with unprecedented perfection. Bradman is synonymous with the gentleman’s game and will be its ambassador till this game lives on.
Also read: England’s hard-hitting wicketkeeper batter Craig Kieswetter was born in 1987