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 11th 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.
