Brilliance is a factor that falls out of the realm of measurement. The measurement of zenith is incomprehensible. However, when it comes to cricket, there is an individual who has set the benchmark of measuring brilliance.
Sir Donald George Bradman was without a shadow of doubt, one of the greatest cricketers to have walked the planet. His batting redefined the sports and his brilliance confounded opponents.
How can one describe Bradmans brilliance?
Can his staggering statistical achievements be chronicled in a nutshell? If there is one number that symbolized Bradmans cricketing career, it is 99.94, his average in Test cricket.
Few would have ever imagined that the lad from Bowral would turn out to be a colossus in this sport considering his poor debut in the Test against England at Brisbane in 1928. It was a poor match for both Bradman and Australia as he contributed just 19 runs and Australia suffered a massive 675 run loss. After a poor start, Bradman ended the series on a high with 468 runs at an average close to 67. It also included two centuries and a glimpse was given of Bradmans genius.
If one has to describe Bradmans dominance, it would be the 1930 series against England when he amassed a staggering 974 runs at an average of 139.14. His knocks of 254 at Lords, 334 at Leeds and 232 at The Oval were a sight for sore eyes. His 334, in particular, featured plenty of statistics. He had become the second player after Wally Hammond to score two consecutive scores of 200. He had scored a 100 before lunch and finished the day on 309. Such feats remain unequalled even in todays fast-paced cricket.
Bradman haunted England and he left England crippled after the end of the series. To thwart his run-scoring, England skipper Douglas Jardine invented Bodyline, the tactic that was damned due to the hostile use of the short pitched ball aimed at causing injury. This reaped success for England as they won the Ashes in 1933 but Bradman still averaged 56. Not only was Don Bradman a dazzling batsman, he was also a brilliant skipper and this was illustrated in the 1936/37 series.
England headed to Melbourne with a 2-0 score-line and few expected Australia to fight back.
What followed next was simply remarkable. On a pitch sodden by heavy rain for a week, Australia crawled to 200 and England folded up for 76. Bradman, in a bold move, decided to reverse the batting order. The move reaped rich rewards and Bradman was involved in a 346 run stand for the sixth wicket with Jack Fingleton as Australia amassed 564 to win the match by 365 runs.
England were demoralized that they lost the next two matches to lose the series 3-2. This remains the only instance in Test history where Australia have bounced back from been 2-0 down to winning the next three matches of the series.
The Second World War ate up into Bradmans playing career and when cricket resumed in 1946, he was in poor health. The 1948 tour to England was his last and he led a team of such remarkable talent that they were nicknamed The Invincibles. Coming out to bat for the last time at the Oval, Bradman needed just four runs to reach the magical average of 100 but he was dismissed by Eric Hollies for a duck. Such was the shock among all cricketing analysts and the public that they remarked this moment as Gods Blob.
Despite all his genius, Bradman did have some weaknesses. Left arm orthodox spin troubled him the most and also leg spin. Hedley Verity, one of the great left-arm orthodox spinners of that time, dismissed him eight times, the most ever by any bowler. After retirement, he was an astute administrator in the Australian Cricket Board who is well known for his pragmatic handling of World Series cricket. He was a man who kept away from the spotlight and was a private person. He died of Pneumonia on February 25th, 2001. For all his achievements in the cricketing world, Sir Don Bradman is without a shadow of doubt, one of the greatest mortals to have played the game in the 20th century.
FUN FACTS:
On his 90th birthday, Bradman hosted a meeting with two of his favourite modern cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. He remarked in an interview.
When he started off playing cricket, he invented his own solo game. He used a cricket stump as a bar and a golf ball. A water tank, mounted on a curved brick stand was present in the back of his house. When he hit the curved brick facing of the stand, the ball would rebound at varying angles at high speed, thus developing his timing and concentration.
Bradman left school in 1922 and worked with a local real estate agent. He played Tennis for a period of two years before dropping it for cricket.
Bradmans record of 974 runs in a series is the most by any player in Test history and it has been unequalled till today.
Bradman had his appendix removed during the 1934 tour and he lost a lot of blood. He was fighting for his life but he managed to survive.
During the period of World War two, Bradman suffered from a muscle condition known as Fibrositis and he also had poor eyesight. He was invalidated from the Army in 1941.
by Siddarth Vishwanathan
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