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Player Name
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Don Bradman
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Nicknames
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The Don
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Birth Place
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Cootamundra, New South Wales
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Height
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5ft 7in (170.18 cms)
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Team(s)
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Australia, New South Wales, South Australia
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Family
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Wife- Jessie Martha Menzies , Son- John Bradman , Daughter- Greta Bradman , Father- Goerge Bradman , Mother- Emily Bradman , Brother- Victor Bradman , Sisters- Islet, Lilian and Elizabeth May
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Zodiac
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Virgo
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Education
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Graduate
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Cars
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Red Chevrolet
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Networth
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7 million
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Don Bradman is widely regarded as the best batsman to have ever played the game of cricket. He represented Australia from 1928 to 1948 and ruled the world of cricket for 20 years. He scored 6996 Test runs and nearly 30000 FC runs. He maintained an average of 99.94 which is considered to be an unbroken record.
The former legendary Australian batsman expired in 2001 and is said to have inspired a generation of cricketers. Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh has spoken very highly of him in the past.
Early and Personal Life
Bradman was born on August 27 1908, in Cootamundra, New South Wales. He is nicknamed The Don for his aura in international cricket. 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'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.
He took to cricket at a very young age and scored the first century of his career at the young age of just 12 with an unbeaten 115 playing for Bowral Public School against Mittagong High School.
Domestic Career
Bradman scored 28067 runs from 234 FC matches. He maintained an average of 95.14 in the format scoring 117 centuries and 69 fifties. The stats go to show the attributes he had as a cricketer.
He had even better numbers in international cricket as he scored 29 Test hundreds in just 52 which is a century in almost every second game. His average of 99.99 was only because he was dismissed on a duck in his final Test innings or else he would have averaged 100.
He made his First Class Debut at the age of 19 in Adelaide. He scored a century on debut and showed the world his elite batting abilities with his footwork, strokeplay, and concentration. He moved to Sydney in the domestic season of 1928-29 which saw him make his debut in 1928.
International Career
Bradman made his Test debut in 1928 against England and also eventually played his last match against them as well in 1948. For 20 years, he broke every batting record and scored runs for fun attacking and oppressing every opposition bowler.
To prevent him from scoring heavy runs former England pacer Douglas Jardine bowled willingly at his body in the 1932-33 which was famously termed as the "Bodyline Series".
He played his best against England scoring 5028 runs in 37 Test matches against them at an average of 89.79. Against India, he scored 715 runs in just five Test matches at an average of 178.75.
Against South Africa, he averaged 201, against West Indies 74.50. He played Test cricket against just four countries and dominated each one of them. In his last Test match against England in 1940, he was out on a duck in the first innings and he did not bat in the second innings or else his average could have been a perfect 100.
He scored 12 Test double tons which is still the most in international cricket. No other international cricketer has scored more than 10 Test double hundreds apart from Kumar Sangakkara who scored 11 and is the next best in this tally.
Although the standard of play was not high, the effects of the amount of cricket Bradman had played in the three previous years, together with the strains of his celebrity status, began to show on his return home.
Famous Bodyline Series Involving Don Bradman
England captain Douglas Jardine who was appointed as the leader of the side in 1931 led the side to their Australia tour in 1932-33. Remembering that Don Bradman had struggled against their methodical short-pitched deliveries in the 1930 series in England, Jardine applied a unique strategy to stop Badram from his free-scoring. Jardine decided to combine traditional leg theory with short-pitched bowling to combat Bradman.
He settled on the Nottinghamshire fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce as the spearheads for his tactics. In support, the England selectors chose another three pacemen for the squad. The unusually high number of fast bowlers caused a lot of comment in both countries and roused Bradman's own suspicions. This methodical attack on Don Bradman from the England pacers is the reason why the 1932-33 series between the two sides is known as the Bodyline Series
