SYDNEY: Australia celebrated the centenary of the birth of Sir Donald Bradman yesterday, paying tribute to the world’s greatest cricketer and a man who helped forge the nation’s identity.
Bradman, who died in 2001 aged 92 and played his last innings 60 years ago, retired with a Test batting average of 99.94. He was hailed by current Australian captain Ricky Ponting as an incomparable figure in the history of cricket and of sport. “It’s almost like he’s separate from the game,” Ponting said. “His name and what he achieved, it’s so far out of any player’s reach, in his time or any player who has played since, it’s almost like he played a different game to what we’re playing.”
Bradman, born on Aug.27, 1908 in rural New South Wales, played first class cricket from 1927 to 1949 and test cricket from 1928 to 1948. He scored 28,067 first class runs at an average of 95.14 and 6,996 runs in 52 Tests with 29 centuries and a highest score of 334. He needed four runs in his last Test innings, against England at The Oval, London, in 1948 to end his Test career with an average of 100 but was dismissed without scoring. His achievements in cricket came at a time when Australia was gradually drifting from its strong ties with Britain and he was seen as a hero for those times, helping Australians forge a sense of independence and national identity. His life and career was to be commemorated yesterday at functions in most state capitals cities and at events in the small towns of Cootamundra, where he was born, and Bowral, where he grew up.
The major scheduled event was a Cricket Australia dinner in Sydney, where 400 guests will listen to an address given by Ponting.
As many guests were also expected to attend a lunch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Bradman scored nine of his 29 Test centuries. The Australian cricket team will acknowledge the occasion in Darwin, where it is preparing for a limited overs series against Bangladesh. South Australia state premier Mike Rann, in a tribute to Bradman, said he was a man who had icon status but was not a celebrity in the modern sense. Bradman played the latter part of his first-class career for South Australia, and in retirement lived in the state capital Adelaide. “He was a quiet, taciturn, recessive hero who avoided parties and went back to his hotel room and wrote his newspaper column, every night, and a daily letter to his wife Jessie,” Rann said yesterday. “In Australian parlance he was the tall poppy that was never felled. No one ever felt the need to bring him down.
“He is our Clark Kent, the mild-mannered ordinary man who contains and conceals immeasurable powers, is always there when needed and always delivers the goods but with nobility of purpose.” Bradman’s old school at Bowral commemorated the centenary of his birth by dedicating the school’s bell post to the cricket legend. A commemorative $5 coin was also struck yesterday to mark the centenary. “No name in cricket conjures up such widespread awe and respect as that of Sir Donald Bradman,” International Cricket Council President David Morgan said yesterday. “Soccer has Pele and cricket has Bradman.”
