Sir Donald George Bradman AC (27 August 1908—25 February 2001), often called The Don, was an Australian cricketer, administrator and writer on the game universally acknowledged to be the greatest batsman of all time. He is one of Australia's most popular sporting heroes, and one of the most respected past players in other cricketing nations, as demonstrated by the number of tributes paid to him when he died. His career Test batting average of 99.94 is by some measures the greatest statistical performance of all time in any major sport. By way of comparison, the second and third best Test averages over completed careers of any length (ie. 20 Tests or more) are 60.97 and 60.83.
The story of how Don Bradman taught himself to play the game and practiced alone using a cricket stump and a golf ball, is a part of Australian folklore. Bradman’s meteoric rise, from playing bush cricket on artificial pitches to becoming the youngest player to make a Test century, took just over two years. Before his 22nd birthday, he set a series of records for high scoring (many of which survive today) and became Australia’s sporting idol at the height of the Great Depression.Such was his impact on the game that special tactics (known as Bodyline) were devised by the England team to curb his brilliance. He later ascended to the Australian captaincy, proving himself a shrewd and aggressive leader despite a shaky start.
During a unique twenty-year career in Test cricket, Bradman was able to overcome a series of personal and professional crises to consistently score at a level that made him “worth three batsmen to Australia”, in the words of ex-England captain Sir Len Hutton. Always committed to attacking, entertaining cricket, Bradman drew spectators to the grounds in record numbers. However, Bradman found the adulation and the constant glare of publicity an anathema and this affected how he dealt with others. The focus of attention on his individual performances strained relationships with some teammates, administrators and journalists who thought him to be aloof and wary.
After World War II, he made a dramatic comeback and in his final season led an Australian team known as “The Invincibles”, arguably the best cricket team in history. So dominant was he that the English writer RC Robertson-Glasgow wrote of his nation’s reaction to Bradman’s departure from the game that, “…a miracle has been removed from among us. So must ancient Italy have felt when she heard of the death of Hannibal.”
A complex, driven man not given to forming many close personal relationships, Bradman maintained his pre-eminence in the game by acting as an administrator, selector and writer for three decades after his retirement. His opinion was always highly sought and so was the (rare) opportunity to meet him. In his declining years he became reclusive, yet paradoxically his status as a national icon increased to the point where the Australian Prime Minister called him the “greatest living Australian”. He appeared on postage stamps and coins, and became the first living Australian to have a museum dedicated to his life. Since his death, writers and academics have attempted to cut through much of the hagiography associated with Bradman to reappraise his mystique and his place in Australian society.