Bradman
at Hurstville – Part One
Tom
Thompson - Bradman CopyrightMaterials
Rod Cavalier
declares that Don Bradman’s experience in Bowral,
on concrete pitches in country cricket, with a family
steeped in local administration and playing, allied
to his precocious teenage talent, meant ‘the Don’
launched himself – fully armed – into first class
cricket and international honours. From the record,
Rod, I beg to differ. While ‘the Don’ has been hailed
as the ‘Boy from Bowral’, I would argue that the turf
wickets of Hurstville Oval, where he started playing
first grade with St George were equally, if not more
influential.
As the publisher
of his memoirs, Farewell to Cricket, his coaching
manual, The Art of Cricket and associated CD-ROM and
Web site, I wanted to know what Bradman himself saw
as the stepping stones. "Look at the record," Don
said to me more than once. "I learnt everything at
St George.
" The ‘Boy
from Bowral’, beating England in 1930, was a tag that
was more myth than reality, for in 1930, Bradman was
a young man, boarding in Rockdale and playing for
the St George District Cricket Club. Historically,
St George & Hurstville Oval have drawn the short straw
in the location of ‘the Don’ in the popular imagination.
There is no public recognition of his time with St
George as all the acres of newsprint this past week
will testify.
What happened
to Bradman at St George and how did his link with
the district disappear? Perhaps it has something to
do with the character of St George itself, a club
run by selfless administrators, often drawn from the
ranks of ex-players, with little appetite for self-promotion.
Even from
the earliest days the St George Club has been marked
by this type of dedication. The team who guided its
fortunes in Bradman’s time were Ted Adams, Town Clerk
of Sydney, Les Blackshaw, one time Hurstville Mayor,
Frank Cush, later on the Australian Cricket Board
and Dick Jones, captain of the first grade team. Discreet,
conservative, ex-players turned administrators - real
gentlemen, who have the privilege of drawing Bradman
to first grade cricket. These four men were crucial
in teaching Bradman about business, cricket administration
and values within the game.
It was Bradman’s
prodigious score – 234 not out against Bill O’Reilly’s
Wingello team - which led to an invitation by the
NSW Cricket Association to attend practice at the
SCG on 11 October 1926. But it was a St George connection
- NSW selector Dick Jones, that brought Bradman to
Hurstville Oval. It was the same St George connections
that brought the young Bill O’Reilly to Hurstville
a few years later. The best batsman in the world and
possibly the best spin bowler of all time.
The NSW Selection
Committee for 1926-27 consisted of Dick Jones, AJ
Moyes (Bradman’s first biographer) and Harry Cranney,
of Cumberland, who was so impressed with the 16 year
old Bradman that he invited him to play for Cumberland.
Moyes own report says; "Bradman possesses an excellent
defence and should make many runs when he masters
turf wickets."
Bradman pointed
this quote out to me, as his reason for leaving Bowral.
He was ready for "big cricket." He accepted the offer
to play for Cumberland, but negotiations fell through
when their Association couldn’t afford to pay his
minor expenses (eight shillings and sixpence) for
weekly travel to Sydney.
A few weeks
later Bradman was chosen to play in the Possibles
v Probables NSW State team, and scored a respectable
37, alongside future St George teammates Des Mullarkey
and Harry Waghorn. He wasn’t picked for the State
Team, but Jones saw his ability and approached his
club.
Bradman
played in a Country Week Carnival, at various turf
wickets in Sydney, on 26 November that year and averaged
only 32 in 5 matches. "Hardly a champion, Tom, " he’d
say ruefully.
Yet Bradman
was taken straight into first grade, the very next
day, and made his debut for St George v. Petersham,
at Petersham Oval, scoring 110 before being run out
- a run a minute; his first ever century on turf wickets.
For the remainder
of the season, he continued playing for St George,
although it involved a journey from Bowral to Sydney
each Saturday morning. Bradman’s biggest handicap
was not the travel, but the lack of practice on turf
wickets during the week. "Despite these difficulties,
I had made 289 runs at an average of 48.16 when the
First Grade season ended," he wrote.
To put Bradman’s
comment into perspective – this average of 48.16 was
a far cry from the same year’s "country knocks" in
the Berrima District of 186.66. As Bradman made it
clear to me on several occasions: "That was a playground."
Skill, modesty
and fair play – these were the traits, Bradman found
in the St George cricket administrators of his period.
They fostered in the country boy a self-belief and
confidence that was critical to the sustained pressure
of big cricket. The St George team spirit, with its
focus on attractive cricket, of declarations for the
public pleasure and dominating game pressure; these
too became part of his armoury.
With the
1927-28 season on its way, Bradman was asked to join
Northern Districts, but "in view of the happy relations
which existed between the St George Club and myself,
I decided to continue with the latter," he wrote.
In the first
match of that season, St George played Paddington,
a team that included Archie Jackson and Jack Gregory.
Don scored 130 not out, of a 258 total. Despite this,
he wasn’t picked in the trial State teams, and thus
was not considered one of the best 29 cricketers in
NSW in October 1927.
His efforts
in Country Week at the SCG were poor, with several
single figure scores, but it warmed him up for district
cricket and on 16 November, Bradman opened at Hurstville
Oval, for a combined St George-University side v.
Riverina, scoring 125 not out. From this effort, Bradman
was accorded the honour of playing for NSW.
The team
left for Adelaide via Broken Hill, where the NSW team
played on a concrete pitch on 16 December. As it was
his first Shield match, it held an important place
in his imagination. Of this game, he later wrote;
"…at Broken Hill, I played my first match for the
NSW Sheffield Shield side in 1927. We had to abandon
play at 4pm due to a dust storm. I had to put the
electric light on in my room to see…"
He scored
46 and had to wear his shoes, instead of spikes, on
the concrete pitch. "Shades of Bowral," as he later
remarked, with his dry sense of humour. A
week later he scored 118 and 33 on the Adelaide Oval,
on debut for NSW.
The reporter
from the Herald observed: "The rapidity of his advance
from the matting wicket standard he was accustomed
to only a season ago leaves no room for doubt that
he will acquire all-round mastery at no distant date."
Dick Jones
noted a developing side of Bradman’s personality –
his intense focus - in the St George’s Annual report
for 1928. "Bradman’s wonderful effort of defying the
Queensland attack for one hour in Sydney, will long
be remembered by those who saw it," Jones wrote. "His
score was only 13, but runs were not the objective…
and only a few wickets left to hold the fort. The
result was a win for NSW on the first innings."
This innings
"was played in a dreadful light with a thunderstorm
threatening the whole time," underlining Bradman’s
understanding of the requirements of the game. Few
runs but necessary concentration and staying power.
This was far removed from the Bowral ‘playground’
experience, and was the true instrument in the making
and tone of the man; "Not the boy," as Don would say.
With the
train trip back to Bowral each night, these five-day
matches were tremendously tiring for him. While he
scored over 1000 runs in all forms of cricket this
season, his century ratio of 4 hundreds in 32 innings
– was the lowest of his career.
So his first
real ‘go’ at Shield cricket yielded an average of
46.22 – not great, but good enough to be second in
the averages behind Kippax.
For St George,
he topped the averages with 58.71 from ten innings,
was second in the aggregate, took five wickets for
32.80 each and 5 catches. It became clear that if
he was to progress in big cricket, he must move to
Sydney for further experience on turf wickets.
"I’d only
scored a single century in ten innings for the club!"
Inevitably, this was to be his last summer as a resident
of Bowral
His employer,
Percy Westbrook, offered him a city posting as Secretary
of Westbrook & Deer and, in September 1928, just 20
years old, Don Bradman left Bowral, to live at the
home of GH Pearce at 232 Concord Road, West Concord.
Jessie Menzies, Bradman’s childhood sweetheart and
future wife, had been living in Burwood since 1926.
The move
from Bowral was a tonic - the first serious practice
on turf for more than three day. Don scored 107 against
Gordon, followed by 131 and 133 not out, for NSW against
Queensland.
"The zing
of the ball off the turf" – that’s my favourite quote
from Don about the effect of the change in his mind
on moving from Bowral’s concrete to Hurstville Oval‘s
turf.
"The zing
off the turf!" he’d declare, almost watching the ball
from the bowler’s end.
The experience
with the St George club, from 1926 to 1932, has yet
to find its proper place in the Bradman legend. But
it’s early days yet and Don, himself, has left the
record that will lead the way.
Tom
Thompson is writing a History of Hurstville Oval.
