The greatest cricketers of all time - No. 2

Continuing with our series on the greatest cricketers of all time, here’s No. 2 on our list.

No. 2 – Sir Don Bradman

“I shall never be satisfied, until I play on this ground.” – Sir Donald Bradman, after his first visit to the Sydney Cricket Ground during the 1920-21 Ashes series.

No person following the sport of cricket can be unaware of the fabled Australian Sir Donald Bradman. Bradman’s superiority on the cricketing pitch speaks for itself; a glow so bright and rare, it still remains unequaled, even by some of the most accomplished players the sport has ever seen. In a career that spanned two decades – two fulfilling decades – Sir Bradman revolutionised and redefined the boundaries of cricket across the world, while taking both personal and team successes to heights never seen before.

Born in Southeast Australia – New South Wales – in the year 1908, Sir Bradman’s tryst with cricket started not as an accident, but as a passion self-nurtured from a very young age. Many of us can relate to the experience of playing solo cricket by fashioning cricketing equipment out of the handiest of surrounding materials. But Sir Bradman turned this micro-cricketing experience into a successful, international career while amassing a legacy for generations of cricketers and fans to marvel at. While most such single-person cricket players go on to develop into potent bowlers, Sir Bradman defied the odds to become a proficient batsman instead. A stump acting as a bat and a golf ball substituted for a cricket ball, hit constantly against a tank, enabled Sir Bradman to develop a very unorthodox batting stance with a ball-to-eye co-ordination so acute, that it helped him cut, hook and rip apart bowlers and reduce them to sheer misery.

The late 1920s marked the official initiation of Sir Bradman into local provincial cricket. For his home cricket squad Bowral, Sir Bradman proved to be a huge find as he put in remarkably consistent performances, cementing his place in the squad. His stint with Bowral also brought him his first glimpse of publicity, with the local newspapers discussing his apparently inherent talent for the sport. By the middle of the decade, Sir Bradman was representing New South Wales in the Australian county division and from there he moved to Sydney to improve his chances of playing in the national test squad.

Though his first Test appearance came in the year 1928, it took Sir Bradman a while to get acclimatised to the difference in playing conditions between county and Test cricket. And though that first Test match experience wasn’t a stand-out by any means, by the end of the fifth Ashes match of the 1928-29 cricketing season, Sir Bradman had more than convincingly proved his Test mettle. He averaged over 90 runs that entire season, and over a 100 runs in the next season, thus laying the first of the many steps that would eventually go on to propel him to evergreen cricketing stardom.

Playing at a time when helmets and protective arm and elbow pads weren’t the norm, and with the bowlers specifically targeting to bowl at the batsmen’s body, Sir Bradman helped the Australian squad claim important Ashes victories in the 1930 series. The Bodyline bowling tactic in the 1932-33 Ashes series was developed solely to pressurize Sir Bradman’s batting technique and, in turn, weaken Australia’s batting line-up. And though the Don failed miserably in the first innings of the second Test of the series, scoring his first duck, his valiant efforts in the second innings gave the Aussies a much-needed equalizing win. His batting continued to improve against the unsportsmanlike tactics in the third Test, and even though Australia failed to win the Ashes that year, critics firmly believe that Bodyline bowling was an instrumental factor in moulding Sir Bradman’s batting to reach new and more exalted heights.

Records and the Aussie’s name are often synonymous, just as is the concept of consistency. His batting average seldom fell below 100 runs, and just as good was his conversion of small scores to really mammoth totals. He still holds the record for being the only cricketer to score a triple century on the opening day of a Test match, a feat he achieved in the 1930 Ashes series at Leeds. But perhaps even more significant than this contribution was his highly tactical manoeuvre in the third Test of the 1936-37 Ashes series, where he reversed the side’s batting order to prevent his key batsmen from batting on a sticky pitch. His partnership of 346 runs with Jack Fingleton on his way to an individual score of 270 runs has been rated by critics and fans as the most significant and historic performance in Test cricket by any player.

A lot has been spoken about Sir Bradman’s immortalised batting average of 99.94 and his unexpected duck in his very last Test appearance against England in the year 1948. But where Sir Bradman narrowly failed to mark a uniquely historic conquest, his desire to help his country win the the series and end the season undefeated was fulfilled, as Australia won the Ashes that season with four victories and a draw. The Baggy Green Caps were feted with the sobriquet of ‘The Invincibles’ following this victory, a label that not has been earned by any other Test playing nation – not even by Australia, for that matter.

Sir Bradman’s prolificacy on the cricketing pitch, however, didn’t translate to a good camaraderie with his teammates off it. His inherently shy and humble nature made him appear snooty, and he often faced criticism for his extremely private demeanor. Speculations and rumours made him seem like an anti-hero with a penchant for heroics, with many of his teammates accusing him of being extremely reticent even during the most celebratory of times.

When Sir Bradman retired from active playing with a riotously brilliant cricketing career behind him and turned his attention to its administrative side, he ensured that he applied the same single-minded focus to help nurture Australian cricket, without hesitating to raise criticisms whenever necessary. And just like his cricketing career, even his administrative aspects were often questioned and criticised; still, he remains one of Australia’s most brilliant and potent influences to the sport.

When Bradman was anointed with knighthood in the year 1949, a year after he bid adieu to the active cricketing world, he became the only Australian to be knighted by the Queen of Great Britain. Three decades after the knighthood, the Australian government felicitated the cricketer with an Order of Australia merit, the second-highest Australian civil order of merit.

Inducted into various cricketing award books and awarded with various noteworthy laurels by various cricketing authorities and bodies across the world, Sir Bradman remains a cricketing icon worth looking up to, even today.

Perhaps not the most perfect of batsmen, especially in wet and sticky conditions, Sir Bradman’s cricketing perfection is reflected by his ability to never give up and play till the very end. With a very simple motto – for, by and of the country – Sir Bradman gave a very high creed of cricketing and sporting dedication for the world to see and more importantly, to work and live up to.

There isn’t too much video footage available of the Don, but here’s a clip of his partnership of 451 runs with Bill Ponsford in the 1934 Ashes. Even in this grainy video, the sheer class of the man is totally evident!

These are the other players who have made it so far:

No. 20 – Bill O’Reilly; No. 19 – Fred Trueman; No. 18 – Dennis Lillee; No. 17 – Sunil Gavaskar; No. 16 – Steve Waugh; No. 15 – Kapil Dev; No. 14 – Malcolm Marshall; No. 13 – Glenn McGrath; No. 12 – Imran Khan; No. 11 – Brian Lara; No. 10 – Jack Hobbs; No. 9 – Adam Gilchrist; No. 8 – Wasim Akram; No. 7 – Ricky Ponting; No. 6 – Muttiah Muralitharan; No. 5 – Shane Warne; No. 4 – Vivian Richards; No. 3 – Sir Garfield Sobers

Read the detailed write-ups on all the players in this list here:

The greatest cricketers of all time