Article by Indra Vikram Singh published in The Indian
Express
on 27th August 2008
on 27th August 2008
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’s book ‘Don’s Century’ was written in the year of Sir Donald Bradman’s centenary).
Published in India by Sporting Links
ISBN 978-81-901668-5-0
Fully illustrated
Paperback French Fold 11 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
188 pages
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