Born August 27, 1908, Cootamundra, New South Wales
Died February 25, 2001, Kensington Park, Adelaide, South Australia (aged 92 years 182 days)
Major teams Australia, New South Wales, South Australia
Nickname The Don
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak
Height 5 ft 7 in
Sir Donald Bradman of Australia was, beyond any argument, the greatest batsman who ever lived and the greatest cricketer of the 20th century. Only WG Grace, in the formative years of the game, even remotely matched his status as a player. And The Don lived on into the 21st century, more than half a century after he retired. In that time, his reputation not merely as a player but as an administrator, selector, sage and cricketing statesman only increased. His contribution transcended sport; his exploits changed Australia's relationship to what used tobecalled the "mother country".Throughout the 1930s and 40s Bradman was the world's master cricketer, so far ahead of everyone else that comparisons became pointless. In 1930, he scored 974 runs in the series, 309 of them in one amazing day at Headingley, and in seven Test series against England he remained a figure of utter dominance; Australia lost the Ashes only once, in 1932-33, when England were so spooked by Bradman that they devised a system of bowling,
Bodyline, that history has damned as brutal and unfair, simply to thwart him. He still averaged 56 in the series.In all, he went to the crease 80 times in Tests, and scored 29 centuries. He needed just four in his last Test innings, at The Oval in 1948, to ensure an average of 100 - but was out second ball for 0, a rare moment of human failing that only added to his everlasting appeal. Bradman made all those runs at high speed in a manner that bewildered opponents and entranced spectators. Though his batting was not classically beautiful, it was always awesome
Test records
Bradman still holds the following significant records for Test match cricket:
Highest career batting average (minimum 20 innings): 99.94[215]
Highest series batting average (4 or more Test series): 201.50 (1931–32) and second highest 178.75 (1947-48)[216]
Highest ratio of centuries per innings played: 36.25% (29 centuries from 80 innings)[217]
Highest ratio of double centuries per innings played: 15.0% (next highest is 5%)[218]
Highest 5th wicket partnership: 405 (with Sid Barnes, 1946–47)[219]
Second highest 6th wicket partnership: 346 (with Jack Fingleton, 1936–37)[220]
Second highest score by a number 5 batsman: 304 (1934)[221]
Highest score by a number 7 batsman: 270 (1936–37)[221]
Most runs against one opponent: 5,028 (v England)[222]
Most runs in one series: 974 (1930)[223]
Most centuries scored in a single session of play: 6 (1 pre lunch, 2 lunch-tea, 3 tea-stumps)[224]
Most runs in one day's play: 309 (1930)[225]
Most double centuries: 12[218]
Most double centuries in a series: 3 (1930)[226]
Most triple centuries: 2 (equal with Chris Gayle, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag)[227]
Most consecutive matches in which he made a century: 6 (the last three Tests in 1936–37, and the first three Tests
in 1938)[228]
Bradman has averaged over 100 in seven different calendar years (*qualification 400 runs). No other player has
achieved this in more than two calendar years.
Fastest player to reach 2000 (in 22 innings),[229] 3000 (33 innings),[230] 4000 (48 innings),[231] 5000 (56
innings)[232] and 6000 (68 innings)[233] Test runs.
