Don Bradman scored 100 in 3 overs!

by A. C. de Silva Sir Donald Bradman - the mercurial Australian cricketer has many records to his credit which are known to the cricketing world. His batting held centre stage whenever he went into bat in Australia and elsewhere as well, be it in Test matches, county matches or side games. He started like an ordinary lad on the road in 1 1! to 1 1"#, $ollowing the war. A boy with a gol$ ball, a gum tree branch $or a bat, a wall to bowl against and a round %ailing $or a wicket and thus he trained &ust like any boy trying his hand at cricket. 'rom this humble beginning, this boy was to become the world#s $inest batsman. Born in (ew South )ales, it was and he %ractised all by himsel$. He was a natural cricketer. *any are the records that stand to the credit o$ this great %layer and recalling all would be a ha+ardous task but, some o$ them, however, are not known even now to the many $ollowers o$ the game. ,an any cricketer or the staunchest $ollower o$ the game think that a batsman can score a century in &ust three overs- Don Bradman achieved this $eat in a club $i.ture in Australia $or Blachheath against /ithgow 0ottery in the Sydney area. His hundred was %osted in &ust 12 minutes. Here#s the breakdown3 'irst over 4eight balls53 6, 6, !, 1, !, !, 6, 1 477 runs5. 1nd over3 6, !, !, 6, 6, !, 6, ! 4!2 runs5. 7rd over3 1, 6, 6, 1, 1, !, !, 6 41 runs5. That gives a total o$ 121 runs o$ which Bradman#s share was 1228 Two runs 4both singles5 were taken by )endell-Bill, Bradman#s %artner in the third over. Bradman went on to score 196 and it included $ourteen 6s and twenty nine !s. Sri /ankan cricket $ans 4,eylon as we were then known5 also had the o%%ortunity o$ witnessing the much talked o$ Donald Bradman in action on our shores. He $irst %layed here long ago - on A%ril 7 in 1 72 at the ,olombo ,ricket ,lub grounds and he made !2 in the #whistle sto%# one-dayer and then 1"-years later in 1 !", he made 12 in another one-dayer. :n the $irst match, Bradman was hit-wicket to /ankan bowler ;ose%h and in the 1 !" match, he was caught by De <retser o$$ the bowling o$ =ussel Heyn whose two sons =ichard and David also %layed to% grade cricket with David also donning the Sri /ankan ca% later on. Then in ;uly 1 71, Bradman not satis$ied with his %er$ormances with the bat alone tried his hand at bowling and was an instant success here too. 0laying $or the

Australian tourists at >ictoria, Bradman outshone his teammates, *ailey =ichardson, *c,abe an <i%%a.. :t was batting $irst $or him and he made ! in Australia#s total o$ 727 $or 6 wickets declared. Then he claimed si. British ,olumbia wickets in an eight-ball over. Scores3 Australia 727 $or 6 wkts dec. British ,olumbia 111 and $or ? wkts. The Don, as he was %o%ularly known, made his state debut $or (ew South )ales, when he was &ust 1 . The match was against @ueensland. He started o$$ in cavalier $ashion with a century. A year later at the age o$ 12 years, he %layed against the *.,.,. visiting side led by A.0.'. ,ha%man and in that game too, he $ared %rominently, scoring 11 runs. Then later on, the great batsman made history in 1 7" when in the Anglish season, he made the eye-catching aggregate o$ 1,!1 runs $or the highest batting average o$ 119.66. That was not all, he hit the highest number o$ double centuries. He did not reserve his batting %rowess only $or use against the Angland bowlers. :n his $irst match against South A$rica, he hit 116 and against the )est :ndies 117. :n :nter-State matches, he hit @ueensland $or what was then the world#s highest $irst-class score o$ !91 not out in !19 minutes - a rate o$ ?2 an hour. His name a%%eared in the record books $or 1nd, 7rd, !th, 9th and 6th wicket %artnershi%. He ended his cricket as he started it - with a century. :t was in a testimonial match that netted him 12,222 sterling %ounds