Master of the game, still

On his 101st birthday, Hardnews pays tribute to Sir Don Bradman

Sandeep Kumar Hardnews Delhi

Exactly 101 years ago on this day, a legend was born whose legacy still remains unmatched. Yes, we are talking of the master batsman, Sir Donald Bradman, who introduced his own style, class and dominated the cricket world. Undoubtedly, Bradman was the greatest player in the history of cricket.

With a whopping test average of 99.94, Bradman notched up 6,996 runs in 80 innings and added 29 centuries to his kitty. Throughout the 1930s and the '40s, Bradman was considered as the most merciless batsman for his sheer dominance on the field. Englishmen were most often at the receiving end of this Australian juggernaut as Bradman kept on hammering their bowlers. During Australia's1930 Ashes tour to England, Bradman scored 974 runs in the series and in the process he blasted 309 runs at Headingley in a single day's play.

According to an excerpt from Wisden, "He's out!"- to the thousands who read them, whether they were interested in cricket or not, the two words blazoned across the London evening newspaper placards could have meant only one thing: somewhere, someone had managed to dismiss Don Bradman, of itself a lifelong claim to fame."

Such was the brutal impact of the master that the English captain Douglas Jardine was forced to adopt the infamous act of 'Bodyline' to prevent the menacing batting of Bradman in the 1932-33 Ashes series. However, the genius still managed to get a batting average of 56 in the series.

Did any bowler ever manage to trouble him? Yes. There were two spinners who somehow managed to ruffle him on few occasions - Clarrie Grimmett, who took his prized wicket on ten occasions, followed by Hedley Verity, who managed the act eight times.

Millions of cricket fans could not believe their eyes when Bradman failed to score four runs in his last test innings and was not able to cross the 100 average mark. The famous second-ball duck against leg-spinner Eric Hollies halted his average at 99.94.

Apart from being a champion cricketer, Bradman is also remembered as a good administrator and selector. Back in 1996, India received an immense reception from Sir Don when he praised master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar, for being a few steps closer to his own style of batting.

It has always been asked if there would be another batsman like Sir Don, who managed to heap an average of 99.94. With test cricket losing interest, the answer increasingly seems no.