The greatest cricketer ever to play the game, Donald Bradman would have been 112 on this day. The great Australian batsman was one of the most celebrated cricketers to play the game and his astonishing Test batting average of 99.94 and countless brilliant batting performances made him a true legend of the game. Here are few interesting facts about the great Don.
Bradman from Italy
Although we do not associate Italy with cricket, Bradman has connection with that beautiful country through his linage. Emmanuel Danero was one of the first Italians to migrate from his native of Genoa to Australia. The link was not commonly known but one of Danero’s daughter was Sophia. Sophia’s daughter Emily married to George Bradman and gave birth to Donald. Lina Moffitt’s book on the quirky life of Danero first revealed the same. Ms Moffitt later told The Advertiser, “It will come as a shock to most people, because most would think Bradman came from a long English line, considering he was such a gifted cricketer.”
He was ‘dropped’ too
Bradman played 52 Test matches for Australia from 1928 to 1948. During this period, he did miss Test matches due to illness and injury but there was only one instance when he was dropped. It was just after his first Test match. Bradman made his debut for Brisbane against Percy Chapman’s England team in the 1st Test of the 1928-29 Ashes. He batted at number seven and number six respectively in the two innings and contributed only 18 and 1 in a massive 675-run defeat. He was dropped immediately but after another England win in the second Test Bradman was recalled for the third one in Melbourne. He batted at number six and scored 79 in the first innings. In the second innings he made it even better as he scored 112 and completed the first of his 29 Test hundreds. Although England won that test by three wickets, there was no looking back for ‘The boy from Bowral’ who went on to become a legend.
When Gandhi watched Bradman live
– Bradman had fans from every strata of the society. From politicians to the simplest of the men in various countries were charmed by his batting and had appreciation for the man. They could get to any extent to see their hero bat. One very unusual fan of Don Bradman was Devdas Gandhi, son of the famous Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was in England during the 1948 ‘Invincible’ tour of England and wanted to see his hero play. He somehow managed a pass of the second day of the Trent Bridge Test at Nottingham. But when he reached the city, there was no accommodation as many people from outside were in the city to watch the Test match and hotels were full. He finally found an interesting place to stay as he convinced the warden of the Nottingham county jail to give him a bed in the prison to stay in the night. “It was ironic, for Mahatma Gandhi, across several ‘stints,’ spent a sum of over six years in British prisons. He affectionately referred to British jails as “His Majesty’s Hotel.””, described by Abhishek Mukherjee in CricketCountry. Interestingly, even Devdas Gandhi earlier was arrested for the Salt March.