After a near-death experience at the end of the tour
to England in 1934, Don Bradman appeared on the Test arena only in the home
Ashes series in 1936-37 as captain. Australia promptly lost the first two Tests
and there were question marks over his own form too. Reproduced below are excerpts
from my book ‘Don’s Century’ about this landmark series, which saw a feat that
has never been repeated again:
Bradman was due to appear for South Australia in
1934-35 as he had taken up employment in Adelaide. But this serious illness
caused him to miss the entire season which he spent in convalescence. He also
opted out of the tour to South
Africa in 1935-36. Happily, though, not only
did he begin to play for, and captain, South
Australia , but was also back to his usual run-making
ways. To give but one example of the ‘Bradman effect’, collections from the
turnstiles at the Adelaide Oval soared by more than a hundred percent, whereas
the receipts at the Sydney Cricket Ground, his erstwhile home venue, plummeted
to half.
The Don blazed to 357 against Victoria ,
and 369 versus Tasmania .
In eight first-class matches during the season he notched up 1173 runs at an
average of 130.33 with 4 hundreds. South
Australia lifted the Sheffield Shield, being unbeaten
through the season. There was a huge sigh of relief and a yelp of joy from his
legion of fans. The reconditioned run machine, serviced, oiled and tuned, was
again cruising effortlessly in overdrive.
This was indeed a new era. Bradman was named captain
of Australia
for the 1936-37 Ashes series at home. It was a new look side with the stalwarts
of the past decade and more, including the two previous skippers Woodfull and
Richardson, top-quality strokeplayers Ponsford and Kippax, the great
leg-spinner Grimmett (who blamed Bradman for having him dropped) and paceman
Wall, gone. That was a combined experience of 160 Tests, no mean figure
considering that Test matches were not played so frequently then. Leading England
was The Don’s good friend, the genial Gubby Allen, who was also knighted later
for his services to cricket.
Bradman became
the first captain to win a five-Test series after being down 0-2. It was a
titanic struggle, a tribute to his amazing batting skills, concentration and
determination, strength of mind and acumen. He led from the front, sweeping
aside the English advance like a raging tornado, stamping his suzerainty with
knocks of 270, 212 and 169 in the last three victorious Tests. All this, while
leading a depleted side with many untested youngsters, himself returning to the
Test arena after a near-death experience. What would you call that, if not one
of the most inspiring stories of the sporting arena? Bradman was a fighter all
the way. As he said in an interview at the end of his career, “I can never
remember taking the field in any match without setting out to win.” He had now
firmly entrenched himself as The Don of cricket, unquestionably and
irrevocably.
To those who
hold the view that statistics are misleading, one would only suggest that they
take a look at the figures of this series, and Bradman’s batting record in
particular. His aggregate of 810 is still the highest by a captain in a Test
series. Nobody else on either side got to 500, and that included the likes of
McCabe, Hammond and Leyland. After Bradman’s average of 90, these three
luminaries registered between 58.50 and 54.55 per innings. That really sums up
the mark Bradman left on the series, and the game as a whole. Spin was
Australia’s forte, with O’Reilly, as usual, and the chinaman specialist
Fleetwood-Smith, picking up 44 wickets between them. England followed the
opposite course, Voce and Allen sharing 43 wickets. Yet everything pales in comparison
with the great turnaround in the series wrought by Bradman’s magic wand, his
run-hungry willow. No wonder Gubby Allen accepted in one of his letters home,
“The Australian XI is simply Bradman and no-one else.”
(Author
Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com.
Follow
Indra Vikram Singh on Twitter @IVRajpipla.)
Don’s
Century
Published by Sporting Links
ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0, Fully Illustrated
French Fold 21.5 cm x 28 cm, 188 Pages
Price Rupees 995
Price Rupees 995
Indra Vikram Singh’s latest books published
by Sporting Links:
A Maharaja’s Turf ISBN
978-81-901668-3-6
The Big Book of World Cup Cricket ISBN
978-81-901668-4-3
Don’s Century ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0
Crowning Glory ISBN
978-81-901668-6-7
Distributed in India by: Variety Book
Depot, AVG Bhawan, M-3, Middle Circle, Connaught Circus, New
Delhi-110 001, India. Tel. + 91 11 23417175, 23412567.
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