The phenomenon of Don Bradman before the Bodyline series, and his dominance of the South Africans in 1931-32. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century'

It may not have been an auspicious beginning to the 1931-32 season, as Bradman was dismissed for a duck against Queensland. That, as usual, was an aberration for which the bowlers paid dearly. In an exhibition match to inaugurate an experimental malthoid pitch at Blackheath, about 100 kilometres west of Sydney, on 3rd November 1931, Bradman smashed a hundred off 22 deliveries in 3 eight-ball overs. Representing a Blackheath Invitation XI, Bradman roughed up the bowlers of Lithgow Pottery in an astonishing hitting spree. In the first over he crashed 33 runs (6.6.4.2.4.4.6.1); in the second he hammered 40 (6.4.4.6.6.4.6.4); in the third his partner Bill Wendell took a single off the first ball, then Bradman clouted 6.6.1, Wendell took a single off the next, before Don blasted 4.4.6. It was exactly a hundred. He went on to score 256 in two-and-a-half hours with 25 fours and 14 sixes. This was not a first-class match, but those who had been treated to the Bradman magic did not care.

The South Africans were touring this season and Bradman had something special in store for them. Woolloongabba, or the Gabba as it is popularly known, was staging its inaugural Test and the irrepressible Bradman celebrated the occasion in style. He was unbeaten on 200 at close on the first day. During the course of this 22nd innings of his 15th Test, he passed 2000 runs. Australia were 341 for six. He had put on 163 for the second wicket with Woodfull (76) and 81 for the fourth with McCabe (27). Next morning when his seventh-wicket partnership with Oldfield (56 not out) was worth 60, Bradman was trapped leg-before for 226. He had been in for 277 minutes and hit 22 boundaries. Australia totalled 450, and there was a sense of déjà vu as the woes of -the West Indies in the previous season began to be replicated by the South Africans now. They were beaten by an innings and 163 runs, being bowled out for 170 and 117. 

Batting first in the Sydney Test, they fared no better, dismissed for 153. This time Keith Rigg, playing his second Test for Australia, was given the opportunity to bat at no. 3. The Victorian grabbed it with both hands, recording his only Test century, and adding 137 for the second wicket with Woodfull. Bradman joined Rigg on the second day, and they put on 111 for the third wicket. Rigg scored a well-compiled 127. McCabe now joined Bradman, and their stand was worth 93 when The Don was dismissed for a belligerent 112. He had batted for 155 minutes and hit 10 boundaries. This time Australia made 469. South Africa folded up for 161. The margin of defeat was an innings and 155 runs.

It appeared that there was a reversal of fortune, and performance, in the third Test at Melbourne, but the South Africans only flattered to deceive. They got rid of Australia for only 198 runs, with Bradman suffering his only failure of the series, caught behind by skipper Jock Cameron off Neville Quinn for 2. South Africa then put up a brave fight with Kenneth Viljoen scoring a resilient century. His 104-run eighth wicket stand with Quintin McMillan appeared to have taken the game away from Australia, as they took a first innings lead of 160 runs.

It was not to be. After he had helped Ponsford raise a half-century first up, Woodfull, as was his wont, dropped anchor. And, just as usual, Bradman took charge. By stumps on the third day, Australia were 206 for one, with Woodfull on 73, and Bradman on the verge of his 11^th Test hundred, at 97 not out. He was relentless even after completing his century. The second-wicket partnership was worth 274 when Bradman fell for 167. He had batted for just over three hours and hit 18 fours. After Woodfull’s five-hour vigil encompassing 161 runs and five boundaries ended, Kippax and McCabe put Australia further ahead. They were finally all out for 554, setting South Africa a target of 395 runs. The task was way beyond the capabilities of the tourists. They did manage to stretch the Test to the sixth day even as Grimmett got among the wickets. He finished with six for 92, while Ironmonger took the other four. South Africa folded up for 225, and Australia wrapped up the series.

The South Africans did take some confidence into the next Test at Adelaide. Bill O’Reilly was now back in tandem with Grimmett, but the visitors batted well right through the order, led by Bruce Mitchell and Herbie Taylor. Grimmett bagged seven for 116 as South Africa totalled 308. Woodfull was again Bradman’s ally after Ponsford fell with only 9 runs on the board. This time they put on 176. Then it was Bradman all the way. He cantered to his hundred. Kippax and McCabe failed but Rigg hung around while Bradman blazed away. Rigg contributed 35 to a partnership of 114. The Don reached his double century, and was aided by Oldfield, Grimmett and O’Reilly. When the last man, debutant Pud Thurlow joined him, Bradman was closing in on his triple ton. This time he was to be denied. While Bradman was scampering for his 300th run, Thurlow was run out. Australia were all out for 513. Bradman had batted almost through the innings for his unbeaten 299 in six hours and thirty-six minutes, having hit 23 fours.

Yet again Bradman had taken the game away from the bewildered South Africans. He had simply pulverized them through the series. “Every ball is for me the first ball, whether my score is 0 or 200, and I never visualise the possibility of someone getting me out,” was how The Don once described his mindset. Even though Mitchell and Taylor fought valiantly again, it was Grimmett who stole the show with another seven-wicket haul. His match figures were fourteen for 199, the first time since the First World War that a bowler had captured so many wickets in a Test. Only 70 runs were required for a win, which Woodfull and Ponsford hit off without much difficulty.

With rain intervening, and the South Africans a demoralised lot, the final Test at Melbourne produced the lowest-ever aggregate for a completed Test match. South Africa were shot out for 36 and 45, and Grimmett was not required to bowl in either innings. In between Australia were dismissed for 153, with Bradman unable to bat through injury. Ironmonger this time picked up eleven wickets for 24 runs.

Bradman had hit hundreds - two centuries and two double-centuries - in each of the four Tests that he batted. Geoffrey Tebbutt said of his style: “Do not assume that young Don is a batsman without delicacy of touch. I have seen him score many hundreds, in his many thousands of runs, by strokes of a delicacy which a billiardist might envy.” He aggregated 806 runs at an average of 201.50, best-ever in a five-Test series. The next best on either side was Woodfull with 421 runs at 70.16 per innings and one hundred, and he batted in all five Tests. The only other centurions were Rigg and Viljoen, who also got one each. That was the extent of Bradman’s dominance. At the time this was the third-highest aggregate in a Test series after his own 974 in 1930 and Hammond’s 905 in 1928-29. Grimmett and Ironmonger took 64 wickets between them.

In ten first-class matches of this season, Bradman scored 1403 runs at an average of 116.91 with 7 three-figure knocks. His Test record at this juncture, before the Bodyline series, stood at 19 matches, 2695 runs at an average of 112.29, 6 hundreds, 5 double hundreds and a triple hundred. Complementing these mesmerising statistics were the record knocks in first-class as well as Test cricket. Such was the phenomenon of Bradman. The cricket world was aghast, and it was now up to the English, who were touring the next season, to devise a strategy to contain him.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Don’s Century 

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 

Weight 480 grams 

188 pages

 

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859 

Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=131474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1

The 1930-31 series, the only time Don Bradman and George Headley came face-to-face in the Test arena. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’

The West Indies toured Australia in the 1930-31 season, and for the only time in his Test career Bradman came face to face with George Headley, who came to be known as the black Bradman. 

Curiously, neither did well in the first two Tests, which Australia won easily. In the opening Test at Adelaide, Bradman needed 26 runs to complete 1000 runs in 1930. He was out for 4. On 1^st January 1931 he scored 25 in the second Test at Sydney, but it was a day too late.

The two maestros reserved their best for the third encounter at the Exhibition Ground in Brisbane. After Jackson had been dismissed for a duck, Ponsford and Bradman put on 229 for the second wicket. Both registered hundreds, and even after Ponsford departed for 109, there was no respite for the tourists. Kippax allied with Bradman in another double century stand. The partnership was worth 203 when Kippax left for 84. Bradman had gone past 200. At close of play on Day One, Australia were 428 for three, with Bradman on 223. He was out next morning without adding to his score, having been at the crease for less than five hours and hit 24 boundaries. The eventual total was 558. Headley’s riposte was an unbeaten 102, as the West Indies were bowled out for 193. Following on, they crumbled for 148, unable to cope with Clarrie Grimmett’s leg-spin.

The disasters continued for the visitors at Melbourne. They were shot out for 99 in 50 overs with Bert Ironmonger grabbing seven for 23 in 20 overs. This time Bradman was partnered by Woodfull in a second-wicket stand of 156. The Don scored 152 at almost at a-run-a-minute, and Woodfull decided that 328 runs were enough, declaring with eight wickets down. Indeed they were, as the West Indies were skittled out on that very second day for 107, with Ironmonger completing a match haul of eleven for 79.

The West Indies, in their maiden series against Australia, were completely outclassed in the first four Tests, annihilated by 10 wickets to begin with, and then by an innings thrice in a row, the run deficits still being 172, 217 and 122. Quite clearly, the only real contests in Test cricket still were those for the Ashes.

Having said that, the men from the sunny Caribbean islands fought back in the final Test, with Headley scoring a fine century, as also did opener Frank Martin. With the weather playing a part and the West Indies skipper Jackie Grant making opportune declarations. Australia were beaten by 30 runs. Bradman registered his first duck in Test cricket.

Ponsford 467 runs (average 77.83) and Bradman 447 runs (average 74.50) were the outstanding batsmen in the series. No one else averaged fifty.

The series, however, ended on a poignant note as well. The brilliant young Archie Jackson, who was rated as high as Bradman - some said he was even more talented - appeared for Australia for the last time in the fourth Test. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which in those days, and for decades after, was a deadly disease. At just 19 years of age and having had the opportunity to play only eight times at the highest level, destiny had dealt him a cruel blow.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Don’s Century 

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 

Weight 480 grams 

188 pages 

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859

 Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=1318474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1 

Don Bradman’s superb double century in the final Test clinched the Ashes 1930 series for Australia. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century'

Don Bradman acknowledging the cheers of the crowd on reaching his double century in the final Test at The Oval in 1930. With the series tied 1-1, Bradman’s superb 232 turned this Test in Australia’s favour, a decisive role in regaining the Ashes

With the 1930 series tied 1-1 before the fifth Test at The Oval, it was a game without limit. Bob Wyatt was England captain in place of Percy Chapman, who in the face of Don Bradman’s onslaught was now viewed as prodigal, if not primeval. Sutcliffe dropped anchor, scoring 161 and England logged up a total of 405 in this battle of nerves.

The old firm of Bill Woodfull and Bill Ponsford raised 159 upfront, and it was the latter who was dismissed first after scoring a fine 110. Bradman joined the stonewaller Woodfull, who left after tallying a patient 54 in three-and-a-quarter hours. Bradman was unbeaten with 27 at stumps, with Alan Kippax keeping him company.

Rain now played a part, but Bradman was steadfast on the tricky wet track. Douglas Jardine was a bystander in the series but he reckoned that he saw flaws in Bradman’s game against fast bowling on the damp wicket. At the end of the curtailed third day, Bradman was nevertheless still at the crease with 130 runs to his name, with Archie Jackson by his side. The only wicket lost was that of Kippax, and Australia were just two runs behind.

Bradman stroked his way to a double century and with Jackson put on 243 for the fourth wicket before the talented youngster fell for 73. Stan McCabe helped Bradman add another 64 runs. Australia were 165 ahead when Bradman finally edged Harold Larwood into George Duckworth’s gloves. His 232 had come off 417 balls in 438 minutes, aided by 16 boundaries.

It was a match-winning knock played at a crucial juncture in testing conditions, and it put Australia in the driver’s seat in their quest to reclaim the Ashes. If his breathtaking 254 at Lord’s was instrumental in levelling the series, Bradman’s dominant 232 at London’s other ground clinched it for Australia. McCabe, Alan Fairfax and Bert Oldfield kept up the momentum, the lead mounting to 290. Ian Peebles was rewarded for his 71 overs of toil with a haul of six for 204.

Fairfax bowled Jack Hobbs before stumps and England were pushed against the wall at 24 for one. Rain washed out the fifth day’s play. When the game resumed, England could not forge any partnership of real significance. Percival Hornibrook captured seven of the eight wickets that fell to bowlers on the final day. Wally Hammond was last out for 60 as England folded up for 251. The significance could not have been lost on anyone as the mantle of the best batsman in the world passed on to the superstar from Down Under, Don Bradman.

It was a momentous tour. Having played a pivotal role in winning the Ashes, Bradman scored an unprecedented 974 runs in the series, still unequalled to this day, at an average of 139.14. He got all these runs at 40 an hour without hitting a six. Rarely did Bradman loft the ball. Some felt that this aggregate was the equivalent of Sydney Barnes’ feat of 49 wickets in four Tests against South Africa in 1913-14, but against better opposition. No other batsman from either side got even half of Bradman’s tally, nor even more than one hundred.

Mammoth scores kept coming repeatedly from his willow like giant waves slapping the shore – a century, two double centuries and a triple century. The double hundreds decided the series. Without doubt the English would need to introspect deeply. C.B. Fry, himself a man of many parts and incredibly talented, was enchanted with Bradman’s display: “I wish I could have used my bat like Don. He is a gem of a batsman. I just love his finished technique and inevitable surety.”

As much as the runs that he scored, Bradman filled the counties’ coffers as never before. Jon Stock related a tale, perhaps apocryphal, in The Week: “Don was the bane of every bowler’s life, but he was also a commercial opportunity. Dai Davies, a Glamorgan player, recalls how he once came close to bowling Bradman in 1930. He was flabbergasted when instead of encouraging him, his captain Maurice Turnbull told Davies that his services wouldn’t be required that day. ‘But I’ll get him out the next over,’ Davies pleaded. ‘That’s what we don’t want,’ Turnbull replied. ‘Can’t you see, we’ve got to keep him in for Monday (the August bank holiday)?’ Glamorgan made a small profit at the end of that year thanks entirely to that game’s proceeds.”

By the final Test, his ninth, Bradman had reached an average of 100, and had as many as six three-figure knocks. His aggregate now stood at 1442 runs, the average 103. In all first-class matches during that tour of 1930, Bradman hit up 2960 runs, the most any visiting batsman has done, and notched up 10 hundreds. He topped the averages among all batsmen during that season at 98.66, which he did on all his tours to England.

If anybody had lingering doubts about Bradman’s ability to cope with English conditions, they had been dispelled in the most vehement manner possible. From now on batting had only one don, perhaps forever. That Wisden selected Bradman as one of its cricketers of the year in its 1931 edition is only stating the obvious. A most telling comment came from the great allrounder Wilfred Rhodes, a shrewd judge of the game, and not one to shower praise lightly: “I bowled against all the best from 1900 to 1930 - Hobbs, Trumper, Grace and Ranji among them and many, many more - but Bradman was the greatest.”          

Ian Peebles, who bowled to Bradman during this series, wrote in the World of Cricket: “It was not until the series got underway that the cricket world gradually realised that this young man Bradman had inaugurated a new era and somewhat reinterpreted the old adage that ‘bowlers win matches’. Never before had an individual batsman so consistently given bowlers the opportunity of winning matches by the speed and extent of his scoring.”

Financially, the tour brought Bradman a bonanza. In addition to the ₤ 600 paid by The Board of Control for the six-month effort, which was easily double an average annual wage at the time, and the reward of ₤ 1000 bestowed on him by Arthur Whitelaw, was the contract for his first book Don Bradman’s Book of Cricket and its serialisation in the press. Bradman’s earnings came to a whopping ₤ 5000.

Don Bradman was now a folk hero in Australia, and he began receiving several offers for commercial endorsements. ‘Bradmania’ had besieged the minds of his countrymen. Whenever word spread that Bradman was at Mick Simmons, huge crowds would congregate outside. It was not long before a musical tribute was paid to him. ‘Our Don Bradman’ was an affectionate tune that became popular in the 1930s. Described as a ‘snappy fox trot song’, it hailed ‘Australia’s batting phenomenon’. Deft pianist that he was, Bradman himself composed a song ‘Every Day is a Rainbow Day for Me’.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Don’s Century 

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 

Weight 480 grams 

188 pages 

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859

Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=1318474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1 

Don Bradman’s astounding record triple century in the Leeds Test of 1930. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century'

 

Young Don Bradman in action during the course of his matchless triple hundred in a day in the Leeds Test of 1930. On the second day he broke Andy Sandham’s Test record by hitting up 334 runs, and became the first to notch up the highest scores in first-class as well as Test cricket. Brian Lara emulated him 64 years later. 

 

It was Maurice Tate again who should have bowled Don Bradman with a vicious in-cutter for a duck at Headingley. “My first ball missed the off-peg by a coat of varnish,” rued Tate. Wicketkeeper George Duckworth threw up his hands in jubilation only to let the ball through for four byes. Bradman had walked in to face the twelfth ball of the match after Archie Jackson had been dismissed cheaply. 

Unfazed by the close shave, Bradman went on the attack. He reached his fifty in 49 minutes, out of a total of 61. His partner Woodfull was, for the most part, a bystander. The Australian hundred was up in 80 minutes, with Bradman on 81 and Woodfull 17. The skipper did the sensible thing, taking singles and giving his young star most of the strike. Bradman pulled Larwood to reach his hundred, fourth in consecutive Test matches. 

At lunch he was on 105, with Woodfull having advanced to 29, out of a total of 136. Only two others had hit up a century before lunch on the first day of a Test, both Australians against England, Victor Trumper at Manchester in 1902, and Charlie Macartney, who like Bradman had Woodfull as partner on the same ground at Leeds four summers earlier in 1926. Pakistan’s Majid Khan joined the club in 1976-77 against New Zealand at Karachi. Four decades later, Australian David Warner achieved the feat against Pakistan in 2016, followed by India’s Shikhar Dhawan off the Afghan attack in 2018.

Hundred before lunch. Bradman coming in for lunch with a century already under his belt on the first day, emulating the feats of compatriots Victor Trumper and Charlie Macartney. Pakistan’s Majid Khan, Australian David Warner and India’s Shikhar Dhawan joined the club later.

Woodfull departed at 194, having reached a customary sedate 50. Bradman rattled up the fastest Test double century in 214 minutes, quicker than Trumper’s 226-minute effort against South Africa at Adelaide in 1910-11, and his own 234 minutes of brilliance in the previous Test at Lord’s. It is reckoned that Bradman played uppishly only twice, when he was on 141 and 202, eluding mid-on, but was otherwise in total command. By tea he was on 220, his partner now being Alan Kippax. 

Bradman got his first chance of the series after 15 hours of batting when the weary Duckworth dropped a difficult one off George Geary. He was then on 273. With Kippax he put on 229 for the third wicket. Bradman reached his triple century in 336 minutes. It is still the second-quickest ever recorded in terms of time after Hammond who clocked up the coveted figure in 288 minutes against New Zealand at Auckland in 1932-33. At stumps The Don was unbeaten on 309, the only instance in Test history of a batsman scoring three hundred runs in a day. Australia were 458 for three. During the course of this exciting day, Bradman passed 1000 runs in only the 13th innings of his 7th Test match. 

That evening Bradman noted: “My feet are awfully tired, but I could have gone on if it hadn’t been the close. I am happy to have beaten the record (Englishman R.E. Foster’s 287 in Ashes contests), but happier still to think Australia is in such a good position. I believe I have been credited with the intention of going on to score 500! Nothing so ambitious crossed my mind. I consider I was lucky to strike my best form on an ideal batsman’s wicket.” 

On the second morning Bradman surpassed Andy Sandham’s Test record of 325 achieved against the West Indies at Kingston the previous winter. He was finally taken by Duckworth, Tate claiming his wicket for the fifth and last time. It was obviously a tremendous innings lasting 383 minutes, his 334 off 448 balls studded with 46 boundaries, and containing 6 threes, 26 twos and 80 singles. The next highest was Kippax’s 77. Bradman was sixth out at 508; Australia folded up for 566. 

A delighted admirer, England-based Australian businessman Arthur Whitelaw, presented Bradman a purse of ₤ 1000 for the record innings. It was a princely sum considering that each of the Australian players received ₤ 600 for the entire tour. That Bradman did not share his bounty, or any part of it, with his teammates caused considerable heartburn. The new record-holder, prudent as ever in matters financial, wasted no time in depositing the windfall in his future wife Jessie’s account in the Commonwealth Bank, where she was employed. 

“It was an innings that will be remembered not only for its magnitude but for its magnificence,” wrote former England captain Pelham Warner. “It is impossible,” he continued, “to imagine greater batting. It was glorious. To call him a run-getting machine, as he has been called, is a poor compliment that rather implies that the runs are ground out with a roar and a clash and a clatter, while as a fact he makes his runs easily, smoothly and naturally with the mark of genius throughout. He is never flurried or in any apparent hurry, and yet runs come from his bat almost as fast as bullets from a machine gun; there has never been a batsman who in match after match had claimed such a huge proportion of the runs scored.” Ominously and, as it turned out, ironically, Warner concluded, “We must if possible, evolve a new type of bowler and develop fresh ideas on strategy and tactics to curb his almost uncanny skill.” 

He may have mesmerised the onlookers, but Bradman himself was not entirely impressed by his own feat. In his autobiography Farewell to Cricket that he wrote after retirement, Bradman reflected: “Whilst admitting that my form was excellent, I have always maintained it was not such a good innings as the previous one at Lord’s. It was made perhaps at a slightly faster rate and included a century before lunch on the first day after Jackson had been dismissed for 1, but there were blemishes in strokeplay of which I was well aware.” Clearly, the perfectionist that he was, Bradman was not satisfied with his record-shattering effort. That is what made him the champion that he was. 

A boy of fourteen from Pudsey, Yorkshire, was also at Headingley on that pulsating opening day. His name: Len Hutton. He already hero-worshipped Bradman and as he wrote 58 years later in The Observer, paying tribute to The Don on his 80th birthday, “Bradman made his way to the wicket very slowly on that sunny morning.” Ruminating on the day’s play, Hutton observed: “This was batsmanship of a class never seen before; a ruthless, systematic destruction of an English attack that included Larwood, Tate, Geary, Dick Tyldesley and Hammond. Even when he made an error in that astonishing 334 at Leeds he was quick enough to profit. He charged at one of Tyldesley’s slow leg-breaks, slipped when well out of his crease and just as Duckworth was waiting to collect the ball to effect the stumping, Bradman somehow got his bat to the ball as he fell, cut it down to third man and, instead of being out, got away with a single.” That is called a stroke of genius. 

In his book Fifty Years in Cricket, Hutton wrote: “The speed of Bradman’s footwork and the ease with which he found, and even created gaps in the field were a revelation, and an abiding memory. He put the ball exactly where he wanted it to go – and that is no exaggeration. England’s captain Percy Chapman admittedly did not have the fleetest of fielding sides, but no matter how he tried, he could not plug the holes. They appeared everywhere, and no sooner was one filled than another was exposed. For example, if third-man was placed square, Don would steer between slip and gully. If Chapman tried to move third-man finer, Don would thump the move with a fierce square cut, a stroke he played to perfection. And so it went on. Bradman aimed for the maximum result from every stroke, and he saw no advantage in hitting hard and straight to a fielder.” That evening the wide-eyed Hutton rushed back to Pudsey, found two bowlers to practise against and tried to emulate Bradman till the midsummer light faded completely. 

The doyen of writers, Neville Cardus, was in the press box, and he wrote later in his book Play Resumed with Cardus: “At Leeds Bradman announced his rights to mastership in a few swift moments. He made 72 runs in his first hour at the wicket, giving to us every bit of cricket excepting the leg-glance. Every fine point of batsmanship was to be admired; strokes powerful and swift and accurate and handsome; variety of craft controlled with singleness of mind and purpose. Bradman was as determined to take no risks, as was to hit boundaries from every ball the least loose. And his technique is so extensive and practised that he can get runs at the rate of 50 an hour, without once needing to venture romantically into the realms of the speculative or the empirical.” In simple terms it meant that Bradman had the ability to turn good balls into bad, and never failed to punish the bad ones. 

Lest we forget, there was still a match on. Rain permitted only 45 minutes’ play on the third day, and though England were forced to follow on despite a Hammond hundred, there was never a chance of a result thereon. That was maybe another reason why Bradman was a little bit less than satisfied with this innings. So far in this series he had scored a century, double century and triple century in consecutive Tests. 

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Don’s Century 

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 

Weight 480 grams 

188 pages 

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859 

Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=1318474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1

Bradman’s finest innings, double century in the Lord’s Test of 1930. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’

Bradman's finest innings. The Don considered his brilliant 254 at Lord’s in 1930 as his best, a flawless exhibition in the second Test that levelled the series 1-1.

There was much delight and nostalgia at Lord’s when two of first-class cricket’s biggest run-getters, Jack Hobbs and Frank Woolley, walked out together to open the batting for England in the absence of Herbert Sutcliffe, who had sustained an injury in the first Test. Thanks to Duleepsinhji’s superb 173 on first appearance against Australia, the hosts ran up a total of 425. Woodfull and Ponsford were sailing along, having raised 162.

Ponsford then seemed to lose focus, having just greeted King George V, who was visiting the ground. What followed was a Bradman gem. Woodfull was solid as ever but Bradman was in a different plane, smashing the English bowling in a stunning display over two-and-a-half hours that afternoon. The partnership realised 231 runs, and by close of play Australia were 404 for two, with Bradman on 155.

Kippax then featured in a stand of 192, and by the time Bradman made his first and last mistake, Australia had already taken a lead of 160. He had made a magnificent 254, having been at the crease for 341 minutes and stroked 25 boundaries in his 376-ball sojourn. Australia declared at 729 for six. The world now acknowledged the arrival of the run-getting phenomenon.

It was an innings that Bradman himself rated as his best. Every shot except one, he reminisced, went exactly where he intended, even the stroke that got him out. While making that last hit Bradman just overlooked that Percy Chapman, who took the catch, was a very tall man, and he also regarded it as one of the best catches he had ever seen.

Bradman is quoted in the Jack Bannister-compiled The Innings of My Life as saying, “It was my first innings in a Test at Lord’s, recognised as the home of cricket, and there was understandably a great deal of pressure on me. I have picked this innings because, though I played more valuable and important innings, I never played one so technically perfect. There was only one delivery I didn’t hit where I wanted (when on 191), and even that went along the ground to second slip.”

In an interview with Mike Popham of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) television for the 200th anniversary of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1987, Bradman reiterated that this was indeed the best innings he ever played in any class of cricket. He spoke about the atmosphere at Lord’s: “Like every young boy I was anxious to play at Lord’s, to have my first look at the ground. It has an atmosphere about it no other ground possesses. It’s not the best pitch, it’s not the best playing field, but it has this atmosphere. You can’t see it, you can’t touch it, but you can feel it. I think it’s got a great influence on the way you perform. You have to walk through the Long Room. You’re a part of history walking out there to bat, and I think that helps to inspire you to give a good performance.”

In the second innings, needing just 72 runs to win, he fell for 1, to another brilliant catch by Chapman, the bowler being Tate for the fourth time in Bradman’s young career. Australia won by seven wickets, the series pegged at 1-1.

“This was one of the great Test matches of history,” Bradman continued in the BBC interview, “it finished within four days. There were just over 1600 runs made off a rate of bowling which averaged roughly 130 overs a day.”

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Don’s Century

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

Weight 480 grams

188 pages

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859  

Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=1318474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1

As Bradman wound up his first Test series with a second hundred, critics failed to realise that a legend had arrived. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’

 

Since the First World War, the Australians preferred eight-ball overs. But during this 1928-29 home Ashes series, and the next in 1932-33, six-ball overs were bowled. Thereafter again eight-ball overs were in force in Australia until 1979. South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand also tried this at various times. It was now 4-0, and as they say, there was little more than pride to play for in the final Test.

This Test, also at Melbourne, was a triumph for Bradman in more ways than one. Mercifully, Hammond’s run spree was over for the series, but Hobbs and Maurice Leyland got hundreds, and Hendren 95. The result was again a 500-plus total. Woodfull ground out another hundred for Australia, and Bradman came in at no. 5, only to see the opener depart immediately. But Alan Fairfax gave him valuable support in a 183-run partnership. Bradman raised his second Test hundred, a fine 123, this time batting for 217 minutes, having played 247 deliveries and hit 8 boundaries. Australia, though, finished 28 runs in arrears.

Some fine bowling by paceman Tim Wall (five for 66), helped restrict England to 257. The target was 286 runs, but there were only a few minutes left in the 6^th day’s play. So instead of the regular opening pair of Woodfull and Jackson, a duo of nightwatchmen in the form of wicketkeeper Oldfield and no. 11 Percival Hornibrook went in to face the top-class new-ball pair of Larwood and Tate. The makeshift twosome not only did a commendable job of guarding their wickets till stumps were drawn, but also laid a strong foundation on the morrow by posting 51 runs on the board. Hammond was commissioned to break the stubborn stand, and he finally breached Hornibrook’s defence. The newly-hoisted top-order bat had eked out 18 priceless runs off 116 balls in a stay of 97 minutes.

Oldfield made a bigger point, holding on to score 48 in a stay of more than two-and-a-half-hours. Then it was the turn of the real openers Woodfull and Jackson to get together in a stand of 49, after which Kippax and Ryder added 46. Finally, Bradman appeared at 204 for five on the 8^th day of the Test. Carefully, in harness with the captain, he carried Australia to victory. It had taken 134 overs and one delivery to eventually hand a defeat to the imperial power. Bradman returned unbeaten with 37, just a tiny portent of things to come.

Wally Hammond piled up 905 runs at an average of 113.12. This was the highest aggregate in a Test series by a long way, surpassing the brilliant South African allrounder Aubrey Faulkner’s tally of 732 in 1910-11, and Herbert Sutcliffe’s 734 in 1924-25, both against Australia. For Bradman it was a highly satisfying, if not exhilarating, initiation to Test cricket. He notched up 468 runs in his first four Tests, second in the team’s averages at 66.85 per innings. This was the only rubber that Australia lost, apart from the controversial Bodyline series of 1932-33, during the Bradman years. The 1938 face-off in England was drawn, while the other eight series ended on a victorious note.

Not all Englishmen, though, were convinced by Bradman’s methods. Concluding that the hard, bouncy Australian tracks enabled Bradman to get away with the pull shot he so favoured, Alfred ‘Tich’ Freeman told him, “You won’t be able to use those cross-batted shots of yours in England,” before he stepped on the boat headed home. As events were to prove later, the Kent leg-spinner had spoken a bit too soon. Surrey captain Percy Fender, who wrote a book on that 1928-29 tour, was also sceptical about Bradman’s technique, and there was a widely held view that this tendency to play across the line would cost him dear in England. Even the great medium-pacer Maurice Tate remarked, “You’ll be found out when you come to England if you play like that.” How utterly mistaken ‘experts’ can be in cricket was apparent even in the late 1920s. Bradman went on to register three of his best Test innings in England, the two triple centuries at Leeds, and 254 at Lord’s, which he himself rated as his finest. He averaged over 102 in Tests in England, and in all his four tours topped the all-comers first-class averages. Even in 1948, the English were still trying to figure out how to get rid of The Don.

Decades later, and in retrospect, former England batsman Doug Insole summed up Bradman’s game: “Don was completely different from Lara. He did not use many shots. He got into position so quickly that he could pull anything short and he made balls short that other men would have had to play defensively. He had a late cut and a hit through the off-side. But mostly his runs came from the pull.” This is what Freeman had seen during Bradman’s maiden Test series, and made a hasty judgement.

It was an extraordinary first-class season for Bradman. He hit the first of his six triple centuries, an unbeaten 340 in 488 minutes for New South Wales against Victoria at Sydney. In 13 matches he scored 1690 runs, still a record for an Australian season, at an average of 93.88 with 7 hundreds. It was a season that launched the Bradman legend. For the next two decades he was to dominate the cricket world like few sportspersons have the arenas of their great triumphs. Kenneth Farmer reflected, “He was Legend by the time the world realized he was news.”

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Don’s Century

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

Weight 480 grams

188 pages

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859  

Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=1318474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1

Don Bradman’s first Test century and the saga of timeless Tests. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’

 

It was a disastrous Test debut for Don Bradman. England piled up 521, with Patsy Hendren hitting 169. Bradman walked in at no. 7, with Australia in deep trouble at 71 for five. Maurice Tate trapped him leg-before-wicket for 18. Harold Larwood snapped up six wickets for 32 runs, as Australia folded up for 122. Bradman fared worse in the second innings, dismissed for 1. Australia were humiliated, bowled out for 66 and beaten by 675 runs, the biggest margin in history. Very quickly had Bradman learnt what a tough life it is at the Test level. He was dropped from the playing eleven in the second Test.

Having to carry the drinks as 12^th man at the exquisite Sydney Cricket Ground must have rankled the aspiring batsman. Wally Hammond pulverized the Aussies with his 251 after Bill Ponsford had his left hand fractured by a nasty one from Larwood. Australia lost again, this time by eight wickets. The bitter experience, instead of demoralising Bradman, only strengthened his resolve. He was determined to make his mark. He did very soon, and this was the only time that he was ever dropped from the team. Picked for the third Test to replace the injured Ponsford, Bradman never looked back thereafter.

After the early damage caused by Larwood and Tate, Alan Kippax and skipper Jack Ryder put on 161 for the fourth wicket. Bradman consolidated the position with two useful stands with Ryder and Edward a’Beckett, scoring 79. But Hammond was awesome, bringing up his second successive Test double century, a round 200. After wiping out a first-innings deficit of 20 runs, Australia again battled hard. Bradman joined Bill Woodfull with four wickets down for 143, and helped the ever-determined opener carry the score to 201. Woodfull scored 107, and then Bradman staged a wonderful rearguard action, adding 93 for the eighth wicket with Ronald Oxenham. On the way young Don brought up his maiden Test hundred.

The crowd at the historic MCG hailed the coming of a new hero, giving him a standing ovation. All of Australia was agog. As Ken Piesse wrote in The Cricketer International: “Hats were thrown in the air, women waved their handkerchiefs and umbrellas. Motor cars hooted, tram bells clanged and passengers cheered and clapped.” Bradman was eventually caught behind for 112. He was in for six minutes over four hours and faced 281 balls, striking 7 fours. Cricket’s most famous saga had begun.

England needed 332 to win, and got them with three wickets to spare on the seventh day. Even today there is a misconception in some quarters about timeless Tests. It is believed that there is only one instance of a timeless Test ever played - the final game between South Africa and England at Durban in 1938-39. That, in fact, is the longest Test ever played, spread over eleven days, with nine days of actual play. As is well known, it was abandoned as a draw since the English team had to catch the ship leaving for home. Up to the Second World War, Test matches in Australia were timeless, after which a six-day limit was imposed. In England, Test matches were initially of three-day duration, but from 1912 onwards there was a provision that should a series be undecided at the commencement of the final Test, then that Test would be played to a finish. From 1930, Test matches in England were extended to four days, with the stipulation of a final deciding Test being timeless still in place. From 1948 onwards, duration of Tests in England were extended, and limited, to five days.

(Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com).

Don’s Century

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

Weight 480 grams

188 pages

Available on Amazon at an attractive price: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859  

Indra Vikram Singh's other books available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/s?k=Indra+Vikram+Singh&i=stripbooks&rh=p_6%3AA3HSV0N9AV7NOK&dc&qid=1602408830&rnid=1318474031&ref=sr_nr_p_6_1