Test Cricket - A World XI between the two World Wars

 

The inimitable Don Bradman in his record-breaking 1930 series.

The period between the two World Wars, and a few years more, was the Bradman era. No sportsman dominated any sport as The Don did. Not only in Test cricket but in the First-class game as well, Don Bradman was a colossus who set standards none has ever been able to come even close to matching.

Bradman notched up 468 runs in the four Tests that he played in his maiden Test series in 1928-29 against England, second in his 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. Wally Hammond piled up 905 runs in that series 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 initiation to Test cricket.   

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, a record for an Australian season, at an average of 93.88 with 7 hundreds. It was a season that launched the Bradman legend.

There were no Test matches in Australia during the next season of 1929-30, though Arthur Gilligan’s M.C.C. side stopped by to play a few first-class matches en-route to New Zealand for the inaugural Test series there. Totally focused on the first-class game, Bradman broke Bill Ponsford’s world record First-class score of 437 made two seasons earlier. He hit up 452 in just 415 minutes, having struck 49 boundaries, for New South Wales against Queensland at Sydney.

Bradman sailed for England with the 1930 Australian team. Cricket would henceforth never be the same again, and the name Bradman would be the first to be written down in the record books forever. Having scored 131 in the first Test at Trent Bridge, and a tremendous 254 in the second Test at Lord’s, Bradman hit up a triple century in a day at Leeds. On the second morning he surpassed Andy Sandham’s Test record of 325 achieved against the West Indies at Kingston the previous winter. It was an incredible innings lasting 383 minutes, his 334 off 448 balls studded with 46 boundaries. The next highest was Alan Kippax’s 77.  Bradman was sixth out at 508; Australia folded up for 566. He went on to score 232 in the fifth Test at The Oval.

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.

 The Bradman legend went from one high to another. The Australian icon was the second-highest run-getter in Tests between the two World Wars, with 5093 runs in 37 Tests with 21 hundreds and 8 fifties. Needless to say, Bradman averaged far higher than anyone else between the two wars, and indeed any other period in Test history. His average was 97.94, customary by his standards. The English off-side powerhouse Wally Hammond amassed 6883 runs in 77 Tests at 61.45, playing 70 more innings than Bradman, hitting up 22 hundreds and 22 fifties.

The next in terms of averages, after Bradman during this period, were names that would surprise no one:

Charlie ‘Governor-General’ Macartney, audacious Australian stroke-player, second to Bradman, at 69.55 for his 1252 runs in 14 Tests.

Len Hutton, record-breaking English opener at 67.25 for his 1345 runs in 13 Tests.

George Headley, pioneer among West Indies greats, at 66.71 for his 2135 runs in 19 Tests.

Hammond at 61.45

Herbert Sutcliffe, the resolute English opener at 60.73 for his 4555 runs in 54 Tests.

Eddie Paynter, England’s left-hander, at 59.23 for his 1540 runs in 20 Tests.

Jack Hobbs, the original master at 56.63 for his 2945 runs in 33 Tests.

Jack Ryder of Australia at 51.62 for his 1394 runs in 32 Tests.  

Among these top-class batsmen, one would choose the following five, in batting order, in a World XI between the two World Wars:

Jack Hobbs (England), Tests 33, Highest Score 211, Runs 2945, Average 56.63, Hundreds 10, Fifties 12

Herbert Sutcliffe (England), Tests 54, Highest Score 194, Runs 4555, Average 60.73, Hundreds 16, Fifties 23

Don Bradman (Australia), Tests 37, Highest Score 334, Runs 5093, Average 97.94, Hundreds 21, Fifties 8

George Headley (West Indies), Tests 19, Highest Score 270*, Runs 2135, Average 66.71, Hundreds 10, Fifties 5

Wally Hammond (England), Tests 77, Highest Score 336*, Runs 6883, Average 61.45, Hundreds 22, Fifties 22

The full Test career records of these great batsmen are:

Don Bradman, span 1928-48, Tests 52, Highest Score 334, Runs 6996, Average 99.94, Hundreds 29, Fifties 13

George Headley, span 1930-54, Tests 22, Highest Score 270*, Runs 2190, Average 60.83, Hundreds 10, Fifties 5

Herbert Sutcliffe, span 1924-1935, Tests 54, Highest Score 194, Runs 4555, Average 60.73, Hundreds 16, Fifties 23

Wally Hammond, span 1927-47, Tests 85, Highest Score 336*, Runs 7249, Average 58.45, Hundreds 22, Fifties 24

Jack Hobbs, span 1908-30, Tests 61, Highest Score 211, Runs 5410, Average 56.94, Hundreds 15, Fifties 28

What emerges from these figures is that there was no decline in the performances of the inimitable Don Bradman even after the seven-year break due to the Second World War. The same is true for the opening batsman par excellence Jack Hobbs who was brilliant either side of the First World War. George Headley was dubbed ‘the Black Bradman’ for his feats between the wars. He played two Tests in 1948 and one in 1954, which brought down his average, but still finished above 60.

It is a pity that one had to leave out four brilliant batsmen.

As mentioned, Charlie ‘Governor-General’ Macartney hit up 1252 runs, at 69.55 for in 14 Tests between the Wars. He began as a slow left-arm bowler before the First World War, but was an explosive batsman after the war with an average next only to Bradman between the two wars.

Len Hutton’s time would come after the War.

Bill Ponsford (Australia), Tests 29, Highest Score 266, Runs 2122, Average 48.22, Hundreds 7, Fifties 6

Stan McCabe (Australia), Tests 39, Highest Score 232, Runs 2748, Average 48.21, Hundreds 6, Fifties 13

The giants among bowlers between the two World Wars were the Australian leg-spin, googly duo of Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O’Reilly. They were essentially a part of the dominant Bradman era. Between them they captured 352 wickets in this period. O’Reilly played one Test in 1946, bagging another 8 wickets. The English reposte came from the right-arm fast-medium Maurice Tate, who also bowled off-spin, and the slow left-arm orthodox Hedley Verity. They prised out 299 wickets during this period. These are the only four bowlers who bagged 100 wickets in the inter-war phase, and at fine averages ranging between 23.68 and 26.16.

Their records between the Wars were:

Clarrie Grimmett (Australia, legbreak googly) 1925-36, Tests 37, Balls 14513, Wickets 216, Average 24.21, BBI 7/40, BBM 14/199, 5WI 21, 10WM 7

Maurice Tate (England, right-arm fast-medium, medium, offbreak) 1924-35, Tests 39, Balls 12523, Wickets 155, Average 26.16, BBI 6/42, BBM 11/228, 5WI 7, 10WM 1

Hedley Verity (England, slow left-arm orthodox) 1931-39, Tests 40, Balls 11173, Wickets 144, Average 24.37, BBI 8/43, BBM 15/104, 5WI 5, 10WM 2

Bill O’Reilly (Australia, legbreak googly) 1932-38, Tests 26, Balls 9910, Wickets 136, Average 23.68, BBI 7/54, BBM 11/129, 5WI 10, 10WM 3

To these one would add the terrifying England right-arm fast bowler Harold Larwood, scourge of batsmen during the infamous Bodyline series. His record between 1926-33 was: Tests 21, Balls 4969, Wickets 78, Average 28.35, BBI 6/32, BBM 10/124, 5WI 4, 10WM 1

In his full career, Bill O’Reilly ended up with the following record between 1932-46: Tests 27, Balls 10024, Wickets 144, Average 22.59, BBI 7/54, BBM 11/129, 5WI 11, 10WM 3

The two decades between the two World Wars were not known for their Test allrounders. The only player to score 1,000 runs and capture 100 wickets was England’s Maurice Tate. His compatriot the remarkable Wilfred Rhodes had played his best cricket before the First World War. His Test career lasted for 30 years, spanning the generations of W.G. Grace and Don Bradman. He became the first to achieve the feat of 2,000 runs and 100 wickets. The two genuine, and best, allrounders between the wars were the Australians Charles Kelleway and Jack Gregory. Kelleway’s Test career straggled the First World War, having played 15 Tests earlier. Similarly, Frank Woolley’s career was divided by the First World War.

Wally Hammond would wheel over his medium pace. With Tate already in the XI for his bowling, one would pencil Gregory down as 12^th man. Those who would fulfil the allrounders roles in this team would, therefore, be:

Wally Hammond (England 1927-1939), Right-hand bat, Right-arm medium-pace

Tests 77, Highest score 336*, Runs 6883, Average 61.45, 100s 22, 50s 22

Best bowling 5/36, Wickets 83, Average 37.77, 5WI 2, 10WM -, Quotient 1.62

Jack Gregory (Australia 1920-1928), Left-hand bat, Right-arm fast

Tests 24, Highest score 119, Runs 1146, Average 36.96, 100s 2, 50s 7

Best bowling 7/69, Wickets 85, Average 31.15, 5WI 4, 10WM -, Quotient 1.18

Maurice Tate (England 1924-1935), Right-hand bat, Right-arm fast-medium, off-break

Tests 39, Highest score 100*, Runs 1198, Average 25.48, 100s 1, 50s 5

Best bowling 6/42, Wickets 155, Average 26.16, 5WI 7, 10WM 1, Quotient 0.97

In their entire careers, the other allrounders achieved the following figures:

Charles Kelleway (Australia 1910-1928), Right-hand bat, Right-arm fast-medium

Tests 26, Highest score 147, Runs 1422, Average 37.42, 100s 3, 50s 6

Best bowling 5/33, Wickets 52, Average 32.36, 5WI 1, 10WM -, Quotient 1.15

Wilfred Rhodes (England 1899-1930), Right-hand bat, Slow left-arm

Tests 58, Highest score 179, Runs 2325, Average 30.19, 100s 2, 50s 10

Best bowling 8/68, Wickets 127, Average 26.96, 5WI 6, 10WM 1, Quotient 1.11

Frank Woolley (England 1909-1934), left-hand bat, Left-arm medium, Slow left-arm

Tests 64, Highest score 154, Runs 3283, Average 36.07, 100s 5, 50s 23

Best bowling 7/76, Wickets 83, Average 33.91, 5WI 4, 10WM 1, Quotient 1.06

The only wicketkeeper with 100 dismissals to his credit between the two World Wars was the great Australian William ‘Bert’ Oldfield. He pouched 78 catches and effected 52 stumpings, totalling 130 dismissals, in his 54 Tests between 1920 and 1937. He was a competent right-handed batsman too, scoring 1427 runs at an average of 22.65 with a highest score of 65 not out, and 4 half-centuries.

 England’s Leslie Ames narrowly missed the 100 dismissals mark. He took 72 catches behind the stumps and caused 23 stumpings, for an aggregate of 95 dismissals in 47 Tests between 1929 and 1939. He had two more catches to his name as a fielder. Ames was a top-class right-handed batsman, and many believed that he was in the Test side more for his batting skills than his prowess behind the stumps. He hit up 2434 runs at an average of 40.56, with 149 as his top score and 8 hundreds and 7 half-centuries. No other wicketkeeper had a century to his name in this period. Leslie Ames is the only wicketkeeper who figures in the line-up of top batsmen between the wars. He was without doubt the best wicketkeeper-batsman of this period.

George Duckworth was arguably the best English wicketkeeper in this era, but was eclipsed by the far superior batting skills of Ames in the latter part of his Test career. Duckworth held 45 catches and carried out 15 stumpings, aggregating 60 dismissals in 24 Tests from 1924 to 1936. He scored 234 runs with a best of 39 not out, averaging 14.62 with his right-hand batting.

The South African Horace ‘Jock’ Cameron was the fourth wicketkeeper to bag 50 dismissals and more between the Wars. In 26 Tests between 1927 and 1935, Cameron totalled 51 dismissals comprising 39 catches and 12 stumpings. He was a fine right-handed batsman, accumulating 1239 runs at an average of 30.21, with a top-score of 90, and 10 fifties.

Ultimately, it was a difficult choice between Oldfield and Ames, and for his versatility, one would opt for the latter.

So the Test team in batting order between the two World Wars would be:

1.        Jack Hobbs

2.        Herbert Sutcliffe

3.        Don Bradman (captain)

4.        George Headley

5.        Wally Hammond

6.        Leslie Ames (wicketkeeper)

7.        Maurice Tate

8.        Hedley Verity

9.        Clarrie Grimmett

10.    Bill O’Reilly

11.    Harold Larwood

12^th Man Jack Gregory

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

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

The three great innings of Stan McCabe. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’

One of Bradman’s compatriots in the Australian middle-order through the 1930s was Stan McCabe. He was every bit a top-class player, orthodox yet aggressive, and one of the least heralded. His status was perhaps akin to V.V.S. Laxman of modern times, ever the artist but forced to live in the shadows of the mighty Sachin Tendulkar, the reliable Rahul Dravid, the delightful Sourav Ganguly and the maverick Virender Sehwag. McCabe’s deeds were eclipsed by the prodigious run-getting of Bradman and Ponsford.

187 not out versus England at Sydney, 1932-33

Just as Laxman’s memorable knocks against the world’s best team, Australia, notably his astonishing 281 at Kolkata in 2001 will ever remain etched in the minds of the public and critics alike, so have been brilliant innings of McCabe for over 80 years already. His courageous, defiant unbeaten 187 at Sydney in the first Test of the 1932-33 Bodyline series was a terrific riposte under daunting circumstances. Bradman did not play that Test due to his dispute with the Australian Board of Control. As McCabe stood up boldly to the short-pitched stuff and hooked it disdainfully, critics concluded that he handled Douglas Jardine’s abominable leg-theory with greater finesse than Bradman.

Learie Constantine in his The Young Cricketer’s Companion wrote: “When Larwood went to Australia and tied Bradman and most of the rest of them in sheep bends and clove hitches and made some batsmen drop their bats and others sit on their wickets, it was McCabe who improvised a daring hook to the leg boundary and made a brilliant century against bodyline as he has done against most other kinds of bowling without the least favouritism.”

189 not out versus South Africa at Johannesburg, 1935-36

If his display at Sydney revealed a tough mind, McCabe’s performance at high altitude at Johannesburg’s Old Wanderers in 1935-36 was a triumph of skill over limitations imposed by physical distress. With Australia at 85 for one, chasing another 314 for a win on the fourth and final day, McCabe, short of breath as a result of the rarefied air, and bleary of eye for the sleepless night he had spent, was in no condition to bat. He informed Vic Richardson of his discomfort. The skipper, in no position to oblige, urged his star batsman - Bradman could not join the tour - to continue his innings, then anchored at 59: “If the altitude gets to you, don’t run. Just hit fours.”

Left with no option, McCabe breezed out to the crease with the other not out, Jack Fingleton. Deliveries leapt and turned square on the dusty wearing track, but McCabe’s elegant shots found the gaps time and time again. He raised his hundred in 91 minutes, fourth quickest at the time after the feats of Jack Gregory (70 minutes in 1921-22 at this very venue), Gilbert Jessop (75 minutes in 1902) and James Sinclair (80 minutes in 1902-03). He clocked up an exact 100 before lunch, carving out 20 boundaries. Australia now needed 182 runs to win in two full sessions. Fingleton offered a broad blade and when he was castled for 40, the partnership was worth 177, of which McCabe’s share was 148. Fingleton recalled, “McCabe’s innings seemed like a crazy dream to me.”

As the thunderclouds drifted in from the northwest, the South African captain Herbert Wade appealed against the light on the plea that McCabe’s ferocious strokeplay was endangering his fielders! It was still only 2.45 in the afternoon and soon the heavens opened up with McCabe on 189, and Australia poised at 274 for two.

Ray Robinson wrote in Between the Wickets: “McCabe’s brilliance had so transformed the situation that, instead of struggling to stall off defeat, the Australians were playing like winners with 125 more to get and eight wickets in hand. He had batted three and a quarter hours for his 189, while 66 were scored at the other end. He hit 29 4s, probably a record for a Test innings under 200.” He was indeed following his skipper’s instructions to a tee, and in the process South African Dudley Nourse’s second innings 231 was forgotten.

Don Bradman (left) and Stan McCabe walking out to bat.

232 versus England at Nottingham, 1938

The third signature McCabe knock was at Trent Bridge in 1938, marked by exquisite strokeplay. He came to the crease at the fall of Bradman’s wicket. It was a breathtaking innings of 232 in only 230 minutes, during which eight of his partners departed, having managed a mere 68 all told, extras included. The next highest was Bradman’s 51. It was then the second-fastest double century in 223 minutes, after Bradman’s (in 214 minutes in 1930), and a shade quicker than Trumper’s (226 minutes in 1910-11).

Vic Marks noted: “The wicket was a lot easier than the time Jessop turned the tide, but McCabe’s strokeplay was purer with scarcely a hint of risk, and accompanied by masterly manipulation of the strike.” So awesome was the strokemaking that Bradman summoned his players - some of whom were playing cards - to the balcony, telling them: “You won’t see strokeplay like this again. McCabe hit 72 out of the last-wicket stand of 77 with Fleetwood-Smith in a matter of 28 minutes.”

The full significance of the innings was elaborated by Denzil Batchelor, when he observed: “McCabe had done a unique thing. Many men have won matches off their own bat. On this wicket, and with England’s skyscraping score, such a feat was not possible - so McCabe had done more. He had come in at a moment in history when it seemed certain that the sun was about to set on a long period in Australian ascendancy. McCabe, by his own efforts, had stopped the sun, and saved the Australian empire.” The series was ultimately drawn 1-1.

Nicknamed ‘Napper’ for his striking resemblance to Napolean, he rekindled nostalgia for the strokeplay of Trumper and Macartney. As Ken Piesse wrote, “Impeccable footwork and his indomitable spirit in adversity made him one of Australia’s true greats.”

Constantine was of the opinion that “McCabe had a great range of strokes, and, though not such a complete master of the balls on the off-stump and just outside as Wally Hammond was, he was very strong at forcing strokes towards the on-side. I remember watching McCabe in a Test hitting across Verity’s leg-break and carting it round to the on-side. Hardly any batsman who has ever lived could have done it; yet McCabe brought stroke after stroke. They all came off, and the result was a spectacular and sparkling innings. If he had missed one of those patient, penetrating balls by the slightest bit of mistiming the result would have been a dismissal that looked terrible - the village blacksmith trying his arts on the past master of English bowling. Success, you see, excuses itself - ‘the head of the table is wherever McGregor sits’.” 

McCabe made 2748 runs in 39 Tests at an average of 48.21 with 6 hundreds, and he scored at a very rapid rate. When he died in 1968 at the age of 58 after falling from a cliff in Sydney, the game lost one of its most popular figures.

(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

188 pages