129 Facts About Don Bradman

The story that the young Don Bradman practised alone with a cricket stump and a golf ball is part of Australian folklore.

Don Bradman's meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team took just over two years.

Don Bradman hated the constant adulation and it affected how he dealt with others.

Don Bradman's image has appeared on postage stamps and coins, and a museum dedicated to his life was opened while he was still living.

Donald George Bradman was the youngest son of George and Emily Bradman, and was born on 27 August 1908 at Cootamundra, New South Wales.

Don Bradman was of English heritage on both sides of his family.

In 1930, when he played at Cambridge during his first tour of England, 21-year-old Don Bradman took the opportunity to trace his forebears in the region.

Don Bradman was partly of Italian lineage; one of his great-grandfathers had been one of the first Italians to migrate to Australia in 1826.

Don Bradman's parents lived in the hamlet of Yeo Yeo, near Stockinbingal.

Don Bradman's mother had hailed from Mittagong in the NSW Southern Highlands and in 1911, when Don Bradman was about two-and-a-half years old, his parents decided to relocate to Bowral, close to Emily's family and friends in Mittagong, as life at Yeo Yeo was proving difficult.

Don Bradman invented his own solo cricket game, using a cricket stump for a bat and a golf ball.

In more formal cricket, Don Bradman hit his first century at the age of 12, with an undefeated 115 playing for Bowral Public School against Mittagong High School.

Don Bradman became a regular selection for the Bowral team; several outstanding performances earned him the attention of Sydney newspapers.

Don Bradman was chosen for the "Country Week" tournaments at both cricket and tennis, to be played during separate weeks.

Don Bradman's boss presented him with an ultimatum: he could have only one week away from work, and therefore had to choose between the two sports.

Don Bradman scored 110 on his debut, making his first century on a turf pitch.

On 1 January 1927, Don Bradman turned out for the NSW second team.

Don Bradman followed this with scores of 87 and 132 not out against the England touring team, and was rewarded with selection for the first Test, to be played at Brisbane.

Don Bradman reached 58 in the second innings and appeared set to guide the team to victory when he was run out.

Don Bradman top-scored with 123 in the first innings and was at the wicket in the second innings when his captain, Jack Ryder, hit the winning runs.

Don Bradman completed the season with 1,690 first-class runs, averaging 93.88, and his first multiple century in a Sheffield Shield match, not out against Victoria, set a new ground record for the SCG.

Against Queensland at the SCG, Don Bradman set a then world record for first-class cricket by scoring 452 not out; he made his runs in only 415 minutes.

Don Bradman makes a mistake, then makes it again and again; he does not correct it, or look as if he were trying to do so.

Don Bradman seems to live for the exuberance of the moment.

Don Bradman's batting reached a new level in the Second Test at Lord's where he scored 254 as Australia won and levelled the series.

Later in life, Don Bradman rated this the best innings of his career as "practically without exception every ball went where it was intended to go".

Don Bradman remains the only Test player to pass 300 in one day's play.

Don Bradman's eventual score of 334 was a world-record, exceeding the previous mark of 325 by Andy Sandham.

Don Bradman dominated the Australian innings; the second-highest tally was 77 by Alan Kippax.

Don Bradman was described as aloof from his teammates and he did not offer to buy them a round of drinks, let alone share the money given to him by Whitelaw.

Don Bradman spent a lot of his free time alone, writing, as he had sold the rights to a book.

On his return to Australia, Don Bradman was surprised by the intensity of his reception; he became a "reluctant hero".

Mick Simmons wanted to cash in on their employee's newly won fame, asking Don Bradman to leave his teammates and attend official receptions they organised in Adelaide, Melbourne, Goulburn, his hometown of Bowral and Sydney, where he received a brand new custom-built Chevrolet.

At each stop, Don Bradman received a level of adulation that "embarrassed" him.

At this point, Don Bradman had played fifteen Test matches since the beginning of 1930, scoring 2,227 runs at an average of 131.

Don Bradman had played eighteen innings, scoring ten centuries, six of which had extended beyond 200.

Don Bradman's overall scoring rate was 42 runs per hour, with 856 scored in boundaries.

Between these two seasons, Don Bradman seriously contemplated playing professional cricket in England with the Lancashire League club Accrington, a move that, according to the rules of the day, would have ended his Test career.

Just weeks later, Don Bradman joined a private team organised by Arthur Mailey to tour the United States and Canada.

Don Bradman travelled with his wife, and the couple treated the trip as a honeymoon.

Don Bradman settled on the Nottinghamshire fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce as the spearheads for his tactics.

Don Bradman, who had signed a two-year contract with the Sun, threatened to withdraw from cricket to honour his contract when the board denied him permission to write; eventually, the paper released Don Bradman from the contract, in a victory for the board.

In three first-class games against England before the Tests, Don Bradman averaged just 17.16 in six innings.

Don Bradman withdrew from the First Test at the SCG amid rumours that he had suffered a nervous breakdown.

Don Bradman anticipated receiving a bouncer as his first ball and, as the bowler delivered, he moved across his stumps to play the hook shot.

The ball failed to rise and Don Bradman dragged it onto his stumps; the first-ball duck was his first in a Test.

However, Australia took a first innings lead in the match, and another record crowd on 2 January 1933 watched Don Bradman hit a counter-attacking second innings century.

Fingleton was in no doubt that Don Bradman's game altered irrevocably as a consequence of Bodyline, writing:.

The constant glare of celebrity and the tribulations of the season forced Don Bradman to reappraise his life outside the game and to seek a career away from his cricketing fame.

Don Bradman was appointed vice-captain for the 1934 tour of England.

At one stage, Don Bradman went thirteen first-class innings without a century, the longest such spell of his career, prompting suggestions that Bodyline had eroded his confidence and altered his technique.

Don Bradman went on to make 140, with the last 90 runs coming in just 45 minutes.

That evening, Don Bradman declined an invitation to dinner from Neville Cardus, telling the journalist that he wanted an early night because the team needed him to make a double century the next day.

Seemingly restored to full health, Don Bradman blazed two centuries in the last two games of the tour.

Don Bradman lost a lot of blood during the four-hour procedure and peritonitis set in.

Surprisingly, in the light of this announcement, Don Bradman led the South Australian team in a full programme of matches that season.

Cricket author Chris Harte's analysis of the situation is that a prior commercial agreement forced Don Bradman to remain in Australia.

Don Bradman took his adopted state to its first Sheffield Shield title for ten years, Bradman weighing in with personal contributions of 233 against Queensland and 357 against Victoria.

Don Bradman finished the season with 369, a South Australian record, made against Tasmania.

For some, the prospect of playing under Don Bradman was daunting, as was the knowledge that he would additionally be sitting in judgement of their abilities in his role as a selector.

Don Bradman let the members of the Test team know that despite their recent success, the team still required improvement.

Don Bradman took time out of cricket for two weeks and on his return made 192 in three hours against Victoria in the last match before the beginning of the Ashes series.

Australia fell to successive defeats in the opening two Tests, Don Bradman making two ducks in his four innings, and it seemed that the captaincy was affecting his form.

Don Bradman won the toss on New Year's Day 1937, but again failed with the bat, scoring just 13.

Don Bradman countered by reversing his batting order to protect his run-makers while conditions improved.

The ploy worked and Don Bradman went in at number seven.

The next Test, at the Adelaide Oval, was fairly even until Don Bradman played another patient second innings, making 212 from 395 balls.

Don Bradman needed to score heavily as England had a strengthened batting line-up, while the Australian bowling was over-reliant on O'Reilly.

Don Bradman scored 103 out of a total of 242 and the gamble paid off, as it meant there was sufficient time to push for victory when an England collapse left them a target of only 107 to win.

Unfit to complete the tour, Don Bradman left the team in the hands of vice-captain Stan McCabe.

At this point, Don Bradman felt that the burden of captaincy would prevent him from touring England again, although he did not make his doubts public.

An experienced, mature player now commonly called "The Don Bradman" had replaced the blitzing style of his early days as the "Boy from Bowral".

The next season, Don Bradman made an abortive bid to join the Victoria state side.

Don Bradman made three double centuries, including 251 not out against NSW, the innings that he rated the best he ever played in the Sheffield Shield, as he tamed Bill O'Reilly at the height of his form.

Don Bradman joined the Royal Australian Air Force on 28 June 1940 and was passed fit for air crew duty.

The RAAF had more recruits than it could equip and train and Don Bradman spent four months in Adelaide before the Governor-General of Australia, Lord Gowrie, persuaded Don Bradman to transfer to the army, a move that was criticised as a safer option for him.

Surprisingly, in light of his batting prowess, a routine army test revealed that Don Bradman had poor eyesight.

Invalided out of service in June 1941, Don Bradman spent months recuperating, unable even to shave himself or comb his hair due to the extent of the muscular pain he suffered.

In June 1945, Don Bradman faced a financial crisis when the firm of Harry Hodgetts collapsed due to fraud and embezzlement.

Don Bradman moved quickly to set up his own business, utilising Hodgetts' client list and his old office in Grenfell Street, Adelaide.

Now working alongside some of the men he had battled in the 1930s, Don Bradman quickly became a leading light in the administration of the game.

Don Bradman played for South Australia in two matches to help with the re-establishment of first-class cricket and later described his batting as "painstaking".

Don Bradman declined a tour of New Zealand and spent the winter of 1946 wondering whether he had played his last match.

Jack Fingleton speculated that had the decision at Brisbane gone against him, Don Bradman would have retired, such were his fitness problems.

Don Bradman was the leading batsman on either side, with an average of 97.14.

The first non-Englishman to achieve the milestone, Bradman remains the only Australian to have done so.

Don Bradman made it known that he wanted to go through the tour unbeaten, a feat never before accomplished.

Don Bradman received a standing ovation from the crowd and three cheers from the opposition.

Just as Don Bradman's legend grew, rather than diminished, over the years, so too has the reputation of the 1948 team.

For Don Bradman, it was the most personally fulfilling period of his playing days, as the divisiveness of the 1930s had passed.

Don Bradman still holds the following significant records for Test match cricket:.

When Don Bradman died, Time allocated a space in its "Milestones" column for an obituary:.

Don Bradman favoured "horizontal-bat" shots to deal with the bounce and devised a unique grip on the bat handle that would accommodate these strokes without compromising his ability to defend.

Don Bradman's backswing had a "crooked" look that troubled his early critics, but he resisted entreaties to change.

Don Bradman's backswing kept his hands in close to the body, leaving him perfectly balanced and able to change his stroke mid-swing, if need be.

Don Bradman "used the crease" by either coming metres down the pitch to drive, or playing so far back that his feet ended up level with the stumps when playing the cut, hook or pull.

Don Bradman temporarily adapted his technique during the Bodyline series, deliberately moving around the crease in an attempt to score from the short-pitched deliveries.

Don Bradman commented that he "would have preferred to remain just Mister".

Don Bradman accepted offers from the Daily Mail to travel with, and write about, the 1953 and 1956 Australian teams in England.

Don Bradman retired from his stockbroking business in June 1954, depending on the "comfortable" income earned as a board member of 16 publicly listed companies.

Don Bradman was honoured at a number of cricket grounds, notably when his portrait was hung in the Long Room at Lord's; until Shane Warne's portrait was added in 2005, Don Bradman was one of just three Australians to be honoured in this way.

The Oval's Don Bradman Stand was demolished in 2013 as the stadium underwent an extensive re-development.

Don Bradman gave the keynote speech at the historic Centenary Test at Melbourne in 1977.

Don Bradman formed an alliance with Australian captain Richie Benaud, seeking more attractive play, with some success.

Don Bradman was criticised for not airing an opinion, but he dealt with World Series Cricket far more pragmatically than other administrators.

Don Bradman expressed the view that white South African cricketers, many of whom had voiced their opposition to Apartheid and "had tried harder than our [Australian] protestors to do something about it", should not be punished for the decisions of their national government.

However, seeking to understand the situation better, Don Bradman travelled to South Africa in June 1971.

When Don Bradman returned to Australia later in the year, and in the absence of any intervention by the Australian Government to prevent the tour, he argued to the other members of the Australian Cricket Board that they should cancel the tour.

Meanwhile, some Australian newspapers lamented that "a small violent group of trouble-makers has won the day" and that "Don Bradman had 'conced[ed] defeat without a ball being bowled".

Those who appreciated Don Bradman's decision included a then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela.

On 10 December 1985, Don Bradman was the first of 120 inaugural inductees into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

Don Bradman spoke of his philosophy for considering the stature of athletes:.

Bradman agreed to an extensive interview with Norman May for ABC radio, broadcast as Bradman: The Don Declares in eight 55-minute episodes during 1988.

The most significant of these legacy projects was the Don Bradman Museum, opened in 1989 at the Don Bradman Oval in Bowral.

In 2000, Don Bradman was selected by cricket experts as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Century.

On 27 August 2018, to celebrate 110 years since his birth, Don Bradman was commemorated with a Google Doodle.

In 1999, Don Bradman was named in the six-man shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Century.

The Don Bradman Collection was formally opened in a dedicated display space at the State Library of South Australia by Prime Minister John Howard in 1998.

Don Bradman first met Jessie Martha Menzies in 1920 when she boarded with the Don Bradman family, to be closer to school in Bowral.

Don Bradman paid tribute to his wife numerous times, once saying succinctly, "I would never have achieved what I achieved without Jessie".

However, John Don Bradman later rejected the view that his relationship with his father was strained.

Greta Don Bradman is an operatic soprano, psychologist, and radio broadcaster.

Tom Don Bradman is a farmer and has appeared on the Australian TV show Landline, discussing his approach to regenerative agriculture.

In 2017, Nick Don Bradman appeared on the cover of the South Australian newspaper The Advertiser, after receiving a university entrance score of 99.95.

Don Bradman's name has become an archetypal name for outstanding excellence, both within cricket and in the wider world.

Don Bradman has been the subject of the second-most biographies of any Australian, behind only the bushranger Ned Kelly.

Don Bradman has been immortalised in various popular songs of very different styles and eras.

Don Bradman recorded several songs accompanying himself and others on piano in the early 1930s, including "Every Day Is A Rainbow Day For Me" with Jack Lumsdaine.

In 2014, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra premiered a "multimedia musical portrait" called Our Don Bradman that had been nearly three years in the making.