A+Notable+Character+From+History

A NOTABLE CHARACTER FROM HISTORY

SIR DONALD GEORGE BRADMAN


 * Born in Cootamundra, NSW on August 27, 1908.
 * Died in Kensington Park, Adelaide, South Australia on February 25, 2001.
 * He was born into the Bradman family as the youngest of five children to George and Emily Bradman.
 * The Bradman family relocated to Bowral in 1911 (Age 3) due to Emily Bradman's health. It was here where Bradman began learning the game of cricket and began his remarkable journey as an elite Australian sportsman.
 * On his rise to prominence as a cricketing legend, Bradman became widely remembered for his practicing methods in the backyard which involved throwing a golf ball against a tank stand and then playing it with a single stump. For Bradman to be able to execute these practicing methods it illustrated that he had outstanding precision, co-ordination and skill with the bat. The skills he developed here would serve him greatly in following years, although Bradman did not know it at the time. This was largely put down to the fact that there weren't any other children to play with in the neighbourhood so Bradman consequently presumed he had the same ability as anyone else his age.
 * Bradman developed his batting skills by representing school and local teams and had great success at state level after debuting (Age 18) for New South Wales in 1927 against South Australia when he scored a century. He was then further promoted to the Australian test team for his first test series.
 * Within three years, he was building a reputation as an exceptional batsman and toured England for the 1930 Ashes series. It was during this series that Bradman would set ridiculously high standards that took the whole world of cricket by storm.
 * In only his seventh test he had already passed the record for largest score in a test match when he amassed 334 in the first innings in a game against England at Headingley, Leeds.
 * Bradman was a such a batting force on the cricket field that even spectators supporting opposition sides would attend the game just to see Bradman bat. While he was often criticised for his lack of technique, Bradman decimated bowling attacks accumulating massive scores and achievements along the way. Opposition sides regularly sent the Australian team into bat first as they feared the potential that Bradman had to impact upon a game.
 * Bradman was so influential that the English team devised a set of tactics to attack Bradman during the 1932/33 series that caused an angry reaction from all cricket spectators around the world. The deemed "ugly" tactic of 'bodyline' bowling, involved the bowler bowling the ball aggressively at the batsman's body in order to curb their influence. While the employed tactics involved the English team to have more success against Bradman, there were regular requests to ban the tactics.
 * Despite the adversity Bradman and his Australian teammates found themselves in, they batted remarkably well and Bradman in particular as he was averaging around 50 runs for the series and playing a range of unorthodox strokes to combat the aggressive bowling.
 * Bradman won respect from around the cricket world for his determination and brilliance and captained the Australian team from 1936 to 1948. He was knighted in 1948 after his retirement. Bradman only required four runs in his last innings but was dismissed for 0 giving him a career average of 99.94 which is the greatest of all time. He amassed numerous records that have yet to be broken in today's modernized game.
 * Sir Donald Bradman or 'The Don' will be remembered for his brilliance on the cricket field and is generally regarded as the greatest cricket player of all time, who is an exceptional sporting role model for all Australians and one of Australia's greatest heroes.
 * Sir Donald Bradman is relevant to us today because his passion, determination, honesty, sportsmanship and his exceptional skill provides an inspiration and an exceptional role model for all young cricketers and men and women involved in sport. The feats that Bradman accomplished revolutionized the game of cricket dramatically and if Bradman hadn't have devoted his time to cricket all those years ago, cricket and sport in general may not be as healthy as it is currently. Australians certainly have Bradman to thank for giving what he did to Australia both back then and in contemporary society today.


 * Sir Donald Bradman's Statistics - Courtesy of Cric Info (2010)**
 * Batting and fielding averages**


 * ~  ||~ Mat ||~ Inns ||~ NO ||~ Runs ||~ HS ||~ Ave ||~ 100 ||~ 50 ||~ 6s ||~ Ct ||~ St ||
 * **Tests** || 52 || 80 || 10 || 6996 || 334 || 99.94 || 29 || 13 || 6 || 32 || 0 ||
 * **First-class** || 234 || 338 || 43 || 28067 || 452* || 95.14 || 117 || 69 ||  || 131 || 1 ||
 * Bowling averages**


 * ~  ||~ Mat ||~ Inns ||~ Balls ||~ Runs ||~ Wkts ||~ BBI ||~ BBM ||~ Ave ||~ Econ ||~ SR ||~ 4w ||~ 5w ||~ 10 ||
 * **Tests** || 52 || 9 || 160 || 72 || 2 || 1/8 || 1/15 || 36.00 || 2.70 || 80.0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||
 * **First-class** || 234 ||  || 2114 || 1367 || 36 || 3/35 ||   || 37.97 || 3.87 || 58.7 ||   || 0 || 0 ||
 * Career statistics**


 * **Test debut** || Australia v England at Brisbane, Nov 30-Dec 5, 1928 ||
 * **Last Test** || England v Australia at The Oval, Aug 14-18, 1948 ||
 * **First-class span** || 1927/28 - 1948/49 ||

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