The Indian Express
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Hundred years on, Bradman’s genius can
still inspire
by
Indra Vikram Singh
On Don Bradman’s
centenary, a fitting tribute is to assess his real greatness, moving beyond the
mountains of statistics and records that are often used to highlight his
achievements. Len Hutton wrote in his Fifty Years in Cricket: “It was
fashionable to say that The Don was unorthodox, a law unto himself, and that
his bat was not as straight as it ought to have been. But his movements were so
right and so emphatic. To the straight good-length ball he would either go
forward or back with precise judgement, never across the pitch, and at the
crucial moment, his bat would be as straight as a Scotch fir.”
KS Duleepsinhji averred in Indian Cricketer
Annual 1954: “Will there be another like him? I doubt it. His highly developed
cricket sense helped him to make up his mind regarding the stroke in a split
second, after the ball left the bowler's hand. With his large repertoire of
strokes, he always found gaps in the field. The opponents always found eleven
fielders too few. His fast rate of scoring gave bowlers plenty of time to
dismiss their opponents. ‘Bradman is batting’ — at those magic words people
would rush to the ground.”
Alec Bedser bowled to Bradman only after
the war when the great man was past his prime, but still a run-getter beyond
compare. He wrote in The Cricketer International: “My one regret was not to see
him at his peak when, as the great Test umpire Frank Chester told me, fielders
were wont to whistle with astonishment at the sheer brilliance and audacity of
his stroke-play. One of his striking attributes was the way he made full use of
the space from the popping crease to the stumps.”
Even during the Bodyline series when
Bradman’s average ‘plummeted’ to 56.57, it was still the best for Australia,
and second only to England's Eddie Paynter’s 61.33 who had two not outs in five
innings. And Bradman scored at almost 40 runs an hour, hitting a hundred in one
Test and half-centuries in the other three. Stan McCabe might have been the
more aesthetic while dealing with the scourge of Bodyline, but Bradman was as
effective, and certainly more prolific and consistent.
To dub The Don as merely a run-machine is
simplistic because machines do not have minds. Among Bradman's several
attributes was a very strong mind. In the 1936-37 Ashes series he was returning
to the Test arena after a near-death experience, at the helm of a weak team
that had lost several stalwarts. And England won the first two Tests. For most
others it would have been too much to endure. But The Don did something, well,
Bradmanesque. He scored 270, 212 and 169 in the remaining three Tests, winning
all of them and retaining the crown. Nothing daunted him, and his story is so
hugely inspirational as much for the massive odds he battled so successfully,
as for the phenomenal number of runs he made.
Or let us fast forward to 1946-47, to the
first series after the war. Unwell and ageing, he carved out 187 and 234 in the
first two Tests, winning both, establishing ascendancy and breaking the English
back. Maybe we can rewind to 1934, the first series after the Bodyline mayhem.
Bradman was not in good health. He still got his customary double century in
the opening match. Then, after a lean run in the first three Tests and the
series precariously placed at 1-1, The Don scored 304 and 244 in the last two
Tests, winning the final one and wresting the Ashes. That was character, a very
tough mind and great skill, something far beyond the capability of any machine
ever invented.
What was that one quality that made Don
Bradman such a champion. The one most qualified to shed light was his wife
Jessie: “More than anything, it was his single-mindedness; the ability to
concentrate on any innings from the moment he woke up in the morning.” The key
word here is focus. Let that remain the last word.
(Indra
Vikram Singh is the only Indian biographer of Don Bradman. His forthcoming book
Don’s Century is scheduled to be released shortly).
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
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-110001, India. Tel. + 91 11 23417175, 23412567, Email
varietybookdepot@gmail.com.
Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted
on email singh_iv@hotmail.com. Follow Indra Vikram Singh on Twitter
@IVRajpipla.
