|
1)
His grandfather was christened as "Bradman''
instead of the commonly used "Bradnam''. |
2)
His father, George, died aged 85 at Berrima,
NSW, on April 18, 1961, and his mother,
Emily, died aged 73 at Campbelltown, NSW,
on December 16, 1944. |
3)
Don Bradman was one of five children.
His sisters were Islet, Lillian and May.
His brother was Charles. |
4)
Bradman was born at a nursing home at
89 Adams St, Cootamundra, 200 miles south-west
of Sydney, on August 28, 1908. |
5)
He was born on the same day as the future
President of the United States, Lyndon
Baines Johnson. |
6)
The midwife that delivered Don Bradman
was Eliza Ellen Scholtz. |
7)
The first home of Don Bradman was a cottage
at Yeo Yeo, NSW, on land owned by his
father. |
8)
The Bradmans moved to Bowral in late 1910
or early 1911, into a house on the corner
of Shepherd and Holly streets. Although
the house still stands and is numbered
52, it was not numbered when the Bradmans
lived there. |
9)
In 1924 the Bradmans moved to 20 Glebe
Street, Bowral. |
10)
Bradman played just one innings in Cootamundra
in his cricket career, scoring one at
the end of the 1927-28 season when touring
country NSW with a team called the Bohemians,
organised by Arthur Mailey. |
11)
Bradman's first game of organised cricket
was when he was aged 11, for his school
at Glebe Park, Bowral. He batted at number
four and scored 55 not out. |
12)
At the age of 12 he scored his first century,
115 not out for his school against Mittagong.
This was the first of 211 centuries scored
in all forms of cricket. |
13)
Bradman's first appearance in senior cricket
was when, as scorer for the Bowral team,
he was called into the line-up to make
up the eleven. He batted at number eleven
and scored 37 not out. |
14)
He made his first-class debut for NSW
v South Australia at the Adelaide Oval
on December 16, 1927. Some 4794 spectators
were present on that day. The first ball
he received was bowled by Clarrie Grimmett.
Bradman scored 118, becoming the 16th
Australian batsman to score a century
on his first-class debut. |
15)
When Bradman moved from Bowral to Sydney,
he lived with Mr and Mrs G.H. Pearce at
Concord West. |
16) Bradman's first job was as secretary
of Deer and Westbrook, a real estate business. |
17)
Canon E.S. Hughes of St Paul's Cathedral,
Melbourne, the "sporting parson'', married
Don Bradman and Jessie McKenzie on April
30, 1932. |
18)
Bradman heard his name announced in the
Australian Test team on radio station
2FC. |
19)
His first Test match, against England
in 1928-29, was also the first ever played
in Brisbane. He batted for 33 minutes
in his first Test innings, scoring 18. |
20)
He was named 12th man for the Second Test,
at the SCG. |
21)
In consecutive minor games in April 1929,
Bradman scored 128 not out and took five
for 34, and scored 117 and took five for
57 - all five bowled. |
22)
Bradman scored 200 or more in a single
day 27 times in his first-class career. |
23)
In the 295 first-class innings in which
Bradman was dismissed, he scored 16 ducks. |
24)
He bowled 2114 deliveries in first-class
cricket. |
25)
He played more games at the SCG than any
other venue: 46. |
26)
Bradman was Australia's 21st Test captain. |
27) His last first-class game was in the
Arthur Richardson testimonial match, South
Australia v Victoria at the Adelaide Oval,
in March 1949. Bradman was unable to bat
in the second after he trod on the ball
while fielding. |
28)
Bradman (South Australia) stumped Bill
O'Reilly (NSW) off the bowling of Eddie
Ward at the SCG in January 1938. |
29)
Bradman had a success rate of 51.67 per
cent in the 120 first-class games in which
he was captain. |
30)
Bradman was fielding for Australia against
Canterbury at St Lawrence ground, Canterbury,
when play was stopped so that a telegram
could be delivered to him celebrating
his 22nd birthday. |
31)
On the 1932 tour of Canada, Bradman once
took six wickets in one eight-ball over
against XV of Vancouver Island at Victoria. |
32)
Bradman met "Babe'' Ruth, the American
baseball legend, at the Yankee Stadium,
New York, in 1932. |
33)
Bradman broke his right ankle when bowling
against England at The Oval in 1938. |
34)
Bradman's last game was for the Prime
Minister's XI against the MCC in Canberra
in February 1963; he scored 4. |
35)
The ABC's postal address in all capital
cities is PO Box 9994. The number was
selected because Bradman's Test batting
average was 99.94. |
36)
Bradman was out Hit Wicket only once in
his first-class career, off the bowling
of Lala Amarnath in the 1st Test in Brisbane
on December 1, 1947. |
37)
Bradman rarely bowled. His best bowling
in first-class cricket was 3 for 35, for
the Australians against Cambridge University
at Cambridge in 1930. |
38)
Bradman bowled 21.7 overs in the first
innings of South Australia v NSW at the
Adelaide Oval in 1929-30. |
39)
As a captain, Bradman allowed himself
to bowl just 52 deliveries in 120 games. |
40)
In the early 1960s Bradman reduced his
golf handicap to scratch and became a
pennant player. Four times he shot under
par: 69 at Kooyunga (SA), 69 at Peninsular
(Vic), 71 at Victoria (Vic) and 70 at
Kingston Heath (Vic). |
41)
Bradman is the only Australian cricketer
to be knighted. |
42)
He hit six sixes in his Test career. |
43)
He is the only Australian who has twice
scored a century and a duck in the same
Test. |
44)
He was never dismissed in the 90s in Test
cricket. |
45)
He holds the record for the fastest double
century; 214 minutes, against England
at Leeds in 1934. |
46)
He shared four triple-century partnerships
in Test cricket: two with Bill Ponsford
and one each with Jack Fingleton and Sid
Barnes. |
47)
Although he was dismissed for a duck in
his last Test innings in 1948, he still
managed to score centuries in his last
three first-class innings on English soil. |
48)
Some say the Walt Disney cartoon character
Donald Duck was named after Don Bradman.
Bradman scored a duck on the 1932 tour
of North America. Walt Disney was a cricket
fan and a member of the Hollywood Cricket
Club. (This has not been proven and no
record exists to verify this fact) |
49)
Bradman won the South Australian squash
championship in 1939. |
50) In successive first-class matches
in 1940-41, Bradman suffered two first-ball
ducks. |