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Thursday 11 April 2013

Don Bradman

Sir Donald Bradman was an Australian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the sport.

Sir Donald Bradman was born on August 27, 1908 at Cootamundra, New South Wales. As a youth, he learned timing by hitting a ball against a corrugated metal tank.

He hit his first century at the age of 12, playing for Bowral Public School against Mittagong High School.

Donald Bradman made his debut in first-class cricket aged 19 for New South Wales against South Australia on December 16, 1927. Batting at No. 7, he secured the achievement of a century on debut with an innings of 188.

On his first visit to England, Bradman established a test record on July 11, 1930,  by scoring 334 runs in one innings at Headingly.


Bradman still holds the record for the most runs in a single day’s play in a test match - 309 during his 334 innings against England at Headingly in 1930.

Walt Disney is said to have decided on Donald Duck’s name after Donald Bradman was out for a duck against New York West Indians in 1932.

Bradman joined the Royal Australian Air Force on June 28, 1940. Surprisingly, in light of his batting prowess, a routine army test revealed that he had poor eyesight. He was later transferred to the Australian Army due to his poor sight.

Bradman was initially disappointed to be transferred to the army, but he eventually made the best of it. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and served as a physical training officer. He also played some cricket for the army team.

Bradman's military service was cut short in 1941 when he was diagnosed with fibrositis, a chronic muscular condition. He was discharged from the army in June 1941.

In his last cricket innings, Donald Bradman needed only 4 runs to attain a test cricket batting average off 100. He was out second ball for zero and finished with an average of 99.94, the highest average in Test history.


In his Test career, Don Bradman scored 26% of the team’s total runs.

Don Bradman hit just six sixes in his Test career, five v. England and one v. India.

Bradman's volume of reminiscences, Farewell to Cricket, was published in 1950. Eight years later, his coaching manual, called The Art of Cricket, was published.


The post office box of the Australian Broadcasting Commission is 9994.

In April 2000, Bradman was voted to be the greatest cricketer of the 20th century by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

Hospitalised with pneumonia in December 2000, Don Bradman returned home in the New Year and died there on February 25, 2001.

Bradman statue outside the Adelaide Oval

Source Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc

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