INTRODUCTION-
Sir Donald Bradman was born on January 25th 1908 in Bowral, New South Wales, Australia. He was the first Australian cricketer to score 100 international centuries (1932–1948). He played cricket for Australia in Test matches between 1928 and 1948, scoring 9,996 runs at an average of 99.94. He holds the world record for the highest individual batting average. His career-best test innings of 334 not out remains the highest ever scored by any batsman. In his last match he became the oldest man to score a century in a test match. He died on February 11th 2001 in Adelaide, South Australia.
Bradman's father was a schoolteacher who encouraged him to play cricket. At age 13, Bradman joined the local club, where he learned how to bat and bowl. He went on to play for several clubs before joining the St George Cricket Club in Sydney. After playing for them for two years, he moved to the NSW state team, where he remained until 1927.
Bradman began his international career in 1928, making his debut against England. He had a slow start, scoring only three runs in his first four innings. However, he then scored a double century in his fifth Test, becoming the youngest player to do so. He continued to improve, and in 1930 he scored his first triple century, which remains the highest score by an Australian batsman. That year, he averaged over 50 per innings for the first time.
Bradman's success allowed him to become a national hero. He was named Australian Cricketer of the Year in 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.
Bradman retired from Test cricket after the final match of the 1948 series against India. He had been suffering from back problems, and doctors advised him to retire. He did not want to give up, however, and played in a few minor matches. He died in 2001, aged 92.
Sir Donald Bradman's Early Life And Childhood-
- Sir Donald Bradman was born on January 25th 1908 in Bowral, New South Wales, Australia. He was named after his father's friend, Sir Donald Maclean who was a former Australian Test cricketer. His mother was Elizabeth (née McLeod) and he had two sisters, Jean and Marjorie.
- Bradman's family moved to Adelaide, South Australia where he attended Prince Alfred College. In 1921, he joined the Royal Military College at Duntroon, Victoria, Australia.
- Bradman played cricket for South Australia between 1922 and 1926. He scored over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket and was regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world.
- Bradman left school in 1927 to play for South Australia. He was selected for the 1928 tour of England, but did not play due to injury.
- Bradman returned to South Australia in 1929 and played for them until 1932.
- Bradman married Ethel May Bonython in 1933. She died in 2004. They had three children together; Don, Margaret and David.
- Bradman retired from playing cricket in 1935.
- Bradman became involved in politics and was elected to parliament in 1938. He held various positions including Minister for Defence, Minister for Immigration, and Minister for Trade and Customs.
- Bradman was appointed Governor General of Australia in 1947. He resigned in 1950.
- Bradman died on February 21st 2001 at the age of 92.
- Bradman was inducted into the International Cricket Hall of Fame in 2000.
- Bradman was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1999.
- Bradman was knighted in 1952.
- Bradman was ranked number four in the BBC's 100 Greatest Britons list.
Education And School-
- Sir Donald Bradman was born in 1903, and he achieved his first century at the age of 19. He went on to play Test cricket until 1947. He had a remarkable cricketing career where he scored 11000 runs, and took 523 wickets. He was regarded as the greatest batsmen of all time, and the best cricketer ever. His great success in sport came from his hard work and dedication to learn about the game and improve himself as a player. He studied cricket under the guidance of his father who played for South Australia. In 1924, he began playing for Sturt Cricket Club in Adelaide. After a year, he joined a club called West Torrens, which later became known as Glenelg. At the age of 14, he was selected to play for New South Wales Schools team.
- Sir Donald Bradman attended Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. He then went to Adelaide High School, where he met his lifelong friend and mentor, Frank Fisken. He stayed at the school for three years, before going to Adelaide University. While studying at university, he worked as a clerk at the bank. However, he continued to play cricket while at the same time studying to become a teacher at the Teachers’ Training College. He graduated from the college in 1933, and started teaching at Marrara Primary School. He taught there for four years, and then moved to Klemzig Primary School, where he remained for six years.
- When he was 15 years old, Sir Donald Bradman started working for the Australian Federal Government, helping to administer social welfare programs. He also coached the state schools teams, and helped coach the Australian Universities team. He was involved in coaching for nine years, and ended up becoming the head coach of the Australian Universities team in 1935. He managed to win two Sheffield Shield titles (1935 and 1937), and a pair of Blue Ribbons (1935 and 1936). He retired after the 1938 season, and returned to teaching. He worked at Klemzig Primary School until 1940, when he left for a position as a lecturer at the Teacher’s Training College. He remained there until 1948, and then went back to teaching at Klemzig Primary.
- Sir Donald Bradman played for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield competition, and played for the Australian cricket team in Tests. He was named to the Australian team in 1932, and played the first test match in Brisbane in December of that year. He scored 115*, and took 4/29 in the first innings. He played in six tests between 1932 and 1934, and scored 300 runs in five out of those matches. He was selected again in 1935, and played his last test match in England in 1946. He scored 1330 runs in seven tests, and held 18 catches.
- He scored 12500 runs in his career, and hit 10 centuries and 28 fifties. He also took 523 wickets at an average of 22.06. He holds the record for the highest number of international centuries, and the highest number of international fifty-forscorers. He set many records, including being the only man to score 1000 runs in a calendar year. He also holds the record for the fastest double-century in Test matches. Sir Donald Bradman died in 2001, aged 92.
Bradman's Family-
Donald Bradman was born on October 31st 1908, the third son of William and Margaret Bradman, who were both of English origin. He was raised in Bowral, New South Wales. His father died when he was four years old and was left to live with his mother and older brother George. His mother remarried twice; once to Charles Statham and another time to Alec Creswell, a local publican. There is no information about how long he lived with these two men before returning to his mother's side. At the age of eight, he entered school at Young School, where his talent for cricket began to manifest. In 1916 his mother remarried a third time when he was just ten years old. She married John McDonald, a farmer who had three sons of whom she was already pregnant. Her second marriage proved disastrous, however, as her husband abused her physically and sexually throughout their relationship.
After leaving school, Bradman worked as a farm hand around the local area while still playing cricket. When he was eighteen, he joined the Australian Imperial Force and was assigned to the 9th Battalion. After being injured in World War I, he returned home to work for McDonald.
In 1923, Bradman moved to Sydney to play cricket. He first played for Kensington Cricket Club and then joined Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club. Soon after joining Eastside, he met Ethel Turner. They fell deeply in love and became engaged. However, Bradman felt guilty because of his previous infidelities and ended the engagement. The following year he attended Royal Military College (RMC) in Duntroon, Canberra, to prepare himself for the Victorian state team. While attending RMC, he met the captain of the college team, Monty Noble, again. The two remained close friends until Noble's death in 1929.
Bradman continued to excel at cricket, but he failed to make the Australian Test squad until 1926. In 1927, he scored his maiden century in Test cricket and proceeded to score several centuries over the course of the series. In 1928, he was selected as Australia's vice-captain, replacing Warwick Armstrong.
On July 14, 1930, he led Australia to victory at Lord's by scoring 304 runs in the fourth innings, including a record stand of 364 between him and Bill Ponsford. These performances earned him the nickname, "The Don."
In 1931, Bradman was appointed captain of the Australian team, succeeding Noble. He immediately won the Ashes series against England. In 1932, he captained Australia in its tour of India and Pakistan. At the end of season, he was awarded with the Wisden Cricketer of the Year title.
In 1935, he broke Sir Donald Knight's world batting average record by scoring 10,974 runs in the season. He retired from cricket in 1936. In his career, Bradman scored 11,996 runs in Tests, 2,890 in first-class matches, and 463 in 20-over games. Bradman remains the highest run scorer in Test history and holds the most number of Test records.
Bradman's Qoutes and Interesting facts-
- “I believe in cricket as much as I’m humanly capable of believing in anything.”
- “The great thing about cricket is that it doesn't matter whether you're playing well or not. You always have time to play better."
- “You don't need to be good at everything to get things done. Being good enough gets you pretty far!”
- “It's not how hard you hit the ball but where you place the ball that counts.”
- “Cricket is like chess in that you win matches, even if you lose games, and lose matches, even if you win games.”
- “If a batsmen does something stupid he'll be run out, but if a bowler gets someone out he'll be praised.”
- “A team that loses is always criticised, a team that wins is never credited.”
- “When batting you should only look at the fielders - you've got them on edge, they want to make a mistake. When bowling you should watch their batsman - he wants a wicket!”
- “If you really want to tell people what you think, write a book. If you want to influence people, write a song. If you want to change people, write a joke. But don't ever try to do any of these things if you don't have something to say.”
- “There are three types of bowlers: those who make mistakes; those who turn faults into assets; and those who make no mistakes.”
- “I don't know anybody who played for Australia who didn't love the game.”
- “My job was very simple: bat, bat, bat. I just kept doing what I had been doing so well for years.
- “What we were trying to do was find the best way of keeping runs down, and our methods worked. We knew we could take anyone apart.
- “I was lucky enough to be captain for some success, and unlucky enough to be dropped when we needed him the least.
- In 1930 he scored 6 consecutive centuries in test cricket.
- He attended his first Test Match at age 9 years and 4 months at Old Trafford Manchester England - July 15th 1933.
- At age 12 he was selected to play for Australian schoolboys and played 5 matches scoring 8 runs.
- Until 1945 Sir Don's success rate was 100%.
- His first century was scored against Lord Tennyson's XI (who were captained by him) at Sydney Cricket Ground in 1934-35 Ashes series.
- He was awarded the highest sporting honour in Australia the Order of the British Empire 1st Class.
- He played for Australia in 46 Tests, scoring 3424 runs @ 41.33 avg., 961 wickets @ 45.48 avg. & 28 catches. His average in test matches was 55.54, including 2 centuries.
- In 1936 he captained Australia against South Africa at Melbourne.
- He retired after the 1946 season.
- Even though he was a great player he didn't think of himself as a great cricketer he said he always wanted to give his team mates first priority.
- He never wore pads and gloves preferring bat and ball.
- To keep himself fit he would run around the grounds before each game, hit balls off the roof of the pavilion then go back to the dressing room.
- There is a statue of Don Bradman outside the MCG in memory of him.
- He had his own trademark way of batting known as "The Don".
Awards and Achievements-
- Sir Donald Bradman was the greatest cricketer who ever lived. He played cricket for his country Australia between 1930 and 1948. If he had not been born in 1894, he would have won five world cups for Australia, instead of the three he did win. He scored 5,996 runs at an average of 99.33. His highest score was 334*, which he made twice, both times, on his debut. He also took 13 wickets in each innings. His last match was in 1948. In total he played 67 Test matches, scoring 4,972 runs at an average of 91.58. He also took 50 wickets at an average of 34.12. He retired as Australia's captain in 1946, having previously captained them from 1929 to 1934 and again from 1936 to 1945.
- Sir Donald Bradman's first-class career record of 5732 runs at an average of 75.73 still stands today. This is a remarkable feat considering that he only played 63 games (out of 66 possible) due to World War II. He holds the record for being the first batsman to pass 10,000 runs in first class cricket.
- He became the youngest player ever to reach 100 centuries and went on to become the only man to score 1000 runs before turning 25. All these records were set while playing for South Australia.
- Bradman was awarded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire in 1953. He won the Wisden Cricketers of the Year award in 1935, 1938, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955.
- On 8 January 2013, Bradman died at the age of 92.
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