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| Sunday, 13 February 2005 |
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Features |  |
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Bodyline bowling was due to Bradman's batting by A. C. De. Silva It was an accepted fact in the early days that had there been no Bradman, there would have been no bodyline bowling. That there ever emerged such a vicious style of bowling as bodyline is, in itself, a tribute to Bradman's greatness but the scars it has left continued even until recently - as Contractor's head would show. The Englishmen first met Bradman in Australia in 1928-29. He made 123 and 112 in Tests against Chapman's team (for all that he was dropped after the first Test); he made 132 for New South Wales against the same side and he went on to make 157 the next season against an MCC team passing through to New Zealand. These innings alone were sufficient to show the English that they had stumbled against a cricket prodigy but his previous innings faded into comparative insignificance when he got to England in 1930. In England, he paralysed English cricket making Test scores of 334, 254, 232 and 131 and 236, 205, 191, 185 and 117 in County Games. That was the first visit to England. He started with that double century and completed 1,000 runs before the end of May with an average of 143, scored the highest Test aggregate of 974 runs for an average of 139 and in the Leeds Test and butchered the England bowling with a giant 334 - 309 of which came in one day. In all, Bradman played in 52 Test matches, and in 80 innings was 10 times not out for a total of 6,996 runs including 29 centuries for an astonishing average of 99.94. There were a few times that Bradman was also not among the runs. He was dismissed without scoring on seven occasions and six of those were against England It was usual to see thousands leave the ground when Bradman was dismissed. Most of them who were interested in the game walked back with Bradman to the pavilion... people who had never been to a cricket match before, flocked to see Bradman. A carnival spirit hung over every ground where he played and the first sight of him as he emerged from the pavilion was sufficient to send the whole ground into ecstacy. No other batsman, in those days could approach his terrific skill with the bat or his unlimited popularity with the crowd. It seemed that he was like the planet solely inhabited; the others revolved around him, shining intermittently in the early 1930s in his reflected glory. If anyone never saw Bradman, these people couldn't comprehend the way in which he dominated cricket, these people would never understand bodyline. It was conceived and nurtured for him. The only sign of discomfort that Bradman showed on the 1930 tour of England happened at the Oval in the final Test. Larwood bowled on a pitch made a little dangerous by rain and it was noticeable that Bradman was a little unhappy when the ball flew high. Continued next week |
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