BATTING WONDER OF THE AGE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18620, 16 July 1930, Page 9

BATTING WONDER OF THE AGE.

Bradman As Draw Card. PRESENCE DESIRED IN ALL MATCHES. United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received July 15, 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, July 14. Don Bradman is in great demand for the forthcoming matches. Cricket officials are all realising that he is such a draw card that his presence will have considerable effect on the gate money. The Australian selectors, however, are anxious to keep him fresh for the fourth test match. A report from Leeds states that it appears that while many people were searching for Bradman on Saturday night and were informed that he was not in his hotel, he was alone in his bedroom playing a portable gramophone and whistling an accompaniment. This was how he chose to spend the evening after his great score, and to celebrate the £IOOO gift. His only ill-effect was toothache yesterday. TICKET SENSATION OF THE AGE COMMENT ON BRADMAN’S RECORD. “Amazing!” “Colossal!” Is It any wonder that such cricket enthusiasts are giving vent to such expressions with the new T s of Don Bradman’s latrt achievement? (writes “Not Out” in the “Evening Post.”) Bradman is, indeed, the cricket sensation of the age. Almost all the individual batting records in first-class cricket have been smashed by this dashing young batsman, and there is no telling when wonders will cease with him. He is but a colt in the game, and yet his malt achievements already place him well ahead of many famous cricketers who had years of experience to aid them in registering their notable performances. In carrying his bat for 309 Bradman on Friday passed the highest mark ever achieved by a batsman in Test cricket —that set by R. E. Foster -Sydney in the 1903-04 season, when he compiled 287 runs for England Ahead of Trumper. Another great distinction gained by Bradman in the course of his big innings on Friday was that he not only passed the late Victor Trumper’s Australian record for the most runs in a Test rubber, but left it far behind. In the series of Tests in Australia in 1903-4 Trumper compiled 574 runs at

an average of 63.77 runs per innings, that being the highest tally standing to the credit of an Australian in a Test rubber. Bradman’s score of 334 makes this young player's aggregate 728 for four complete innings. What will his

aggregate be when the Test series is finished? In order to beat the highest aggregate on record for a series he has to increase his present tally by 178, Hammond having made 905 (average 113.12) for England in the last series of Tests in Australia. Attack from the Start.

One of the most extraordinary features of Bradman’s performance was the manner in which he dealt with the bowling during the period before lunch. With the dismissal of one of the opening batsmen in the first over of the day, the situation was such that many a great batsman would have treated it far differently. Bradman, however, jumped right into attack, and before lunch he had compiled 105 runs, thus taking rank with Trumper and Macartney in some of the most notable performances on record for the first session of Test match play. In this and other respects the play on Friday was reminiscent of the play in the 1926 Test at Leeds. In that game a sensation was caused by the dismissal of Bardsley off the first ball of the match. Tate was the bowler, and Bardsley flicked at the first ball. Sutcliffe in the slips picking it up off his toes—a beautiful catch. Macartney

filled the vacancy and was associated with Woodfull in a second-wicket partnership which yielded 235 runs—a Test record. The first hundred, of which Macartney made 83, appeared in seventy-five minutes, Woodfull adopting defensive tactics while Macartney went for the runs. Macartney reached his century in an hour and 43 minutes, two minutes before the luncheon adjournment was taken. In subsequent play runs came freely, and when stumps were drawn at 5.20 p.m. owing to rain, Australia’s score was 366 for three wickets—Bardsley 0. Woodfull 134 r ' out, Macartney 151, Andrews 4, and A. J. Richardson 70 not out. In that Test, which was drawn, Carr, it will be remembered, came in for a good deal of adverse criticism for sending Australia in to bat after he had won the toss. Woodfull, Grimmett and Oldfield, of the present Australian team, were playing for Australia, and Chapman, Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Tate and Geary for England. Larwood was dropped, but Woolley and Hendren, who are not included in the present team, were played. Since 1926, therefore, England has been more dependent upon its players of that date than has Australia. Bradman’s 2000. Reverting to the registration of centuries in the pre-lunch play of the first day of Tests, Trumper’s feat was accomplished in the 1902 Test at Manchester. The score at the luncheon adjournment in that Test was 173 for one wicket—Trumper 103 not out, Duff 54, and Hill 14 not out. Bradman, therefore, has beaten Trumper to that point by two runs. Still another achievement made by Bradman on Friday was the completion of 2000 runs for the tour, and here again is a performance which has no equal. Prior to this Test Bradman’s aggregate for the tour was 1691, so that he made just enough runs to bring it up to the 2000 mark. His scores in the Tests have been: First 8 and 131; second 254 and 1; third 334.