Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), was an Australian cricketer who is hailed as the greatest Test batsman of all time and among the greatest sportsmen to have played any major sport.
Dubbed as the “Boy from Bowral”, he represented Australia for 20 years playing 52 Tests from 1928-1948 with an unbelievably high career Test batting average of 99.94.
Bradman is one of cricket’s everlasting icon’s as his unwavering concentration and powerful strokes has set many records and won numerous games for Australia.
He made his first-class debut at the Adelaide Oval when he was 19 and scored 118 runs in his debut match.
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He was chosen to play the 1930 Ashes series against England and hit 131 in the first & went on to make 254 runs in the second Test. Maintaining his glorious form he hit two centuries, one each in each of the innings in the third test. He made a triple century in the third test and a double century in the fourth and final test.
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He performed exceptionally well in the 1938 tour of England. He played 26 innings in this tour and amassed a staggering 13 centuries.
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He made 6996 runs in 52 Test Matches (80 Innings) at an average of 99.94. He scored 29 test centuries, which was a world record at that time.
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His record of 974 runs in a series is the most by any player in Test history and it still stands today.
The Second World War ate up the golden period of his career. He joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940 and was deemed fit for air crew duty. But he was soon transferred to the army and given the rank of Lieutenant.
He returned to playing cricket in the mid-1940s and played his final Test at The Oval against England in 1948. Following his retirement he served as an administrator, selector and writer for three decades.
Bradman was made a Knight Bachelor in 1949 in recognition of his services to cricket, becoming the only Australian cricketer to be honored so. The Australian government awarded him the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), “in recognition of service to the sport of cricket and cricket administration” in 1979.
In 2000 he was voted the greatest cricketer of the 20th century by Wisden Cricket Almanack and in 2009 he was inducted in the ICC Cricket Hall Of Fame.
