BRADMAN TELLS OF ENTRY TO FIRST GRADE CRICKET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19268, 3 January 1931, Page 7

BRADMAN TELLS OF ENTRY TO FIRST GRADE CRICKET.

Knocks Up 110 For St George, And Selected To Play In Shield Match.

As luck would have it, it was not very long before I received a second call from Sydney, this time to play in a trial match organised by the New South Wales Cricket Association, with the idea of helping in the selection of sides to compete for the Sheffield Shield. .

I had my first innings on the Sydney Ground, and scored 37 not out. The result was that, although I was not chosen to go to Queensland, as I hoped, the New South Wales Cricket Association asked the selectors of the Southern Country Week side to pick me for a trial at Goulburn, which is some fifty miles from Bowral. That was done, and I scored 62 not out, and took four wickets, a performance which led to my being in the Country Week team. My selection to play in the Country Cricket Week team placed me in a rather curious dilemma. I had also been asked to play in the Country Tennis team, and, as both these events meant a week in Sydney, I went to Mr Westbrook, my employer, to arrange for leave. Mr Westbrook, to whom I owe a deep debt of gratitude, had never placed any obstacle in the way of my getting away from work, but on this occasion he made this stipulation.

“Don," he said, “you can only have one week in Sydne} r . You can have the tennis week or the cricket week, but you cannot have both.” I thought the matter over. The cricket week came before the tennis week. That may or may not have decided me, but ultimately I decided to tak<i the cricket week. And that was the end of the battle between cricket and tennis. The Country Cricket Week duly came round. All the chosen players collected in Sydney, and some eight teams met to do battle. The play lasted from Monday to Friday, with a different each day. My record for that week was not too good—my highest score for the five matches being 46, and my lowest 21. I was now beginning to ■wonder and speculate how my cricketing future would shape itself, when Mr R. L. Jones asked me whether I would play regularly in Sydney for the St George Club, which meant opening the door to first-grade cricket. Mr Jones, by the way, is one of the gentlemen who assisted in the selection of the 1930 Australian team, and represents New South Wales on the selection committee.

Playing First Grade For St George.

As the result of negotiations, arrangements were made for me to play every Saturday for St George in the Sydney first grade competition. My first grade match for St George was against Petersham on the Saturday of Country Week, and in this game I was run out after making 110. That was my first century on a turf wicket. On the following Monday I was selected to represent a combined country team side against a combined first grade team of Sydney, captained by Charlie Macartney. My luck held. I scored 98. Macartney, I remember, made a glorious century, and one of the other players on our side was Charlie Andrews, who later became a member of the New South Wales Shield team. After much cogitation, and not a little trepidation, I decided that it would be in my best interests if I lived in Sydney. I found the weekly journey to and from Bowral—a two and a half hours’ run—a matter of some inconvenience. The thought of leaving home and all its happy associations hurt. My work was completely pleasant; I could have desired no more generous or considerate master;, but, whatever the cost,

I was determined to make the plunge. I delayed making it, however, for some time, especially as Mr Westbrook, far from offering any objection to my being away from business every Saturday—his busiest and most important day of the week—encouraged me. So I remained at Bowral, and I came to be selected to represent New South Wales against Victoria in a second XI. match on the Sydney ground.

In my first innings I made 42, which was the top score. In the second, I stepped back to play th© ball and hit it good and hard, and, of course, started to run. I had run a single and was coming back for the second run when I noticed the square-leg umpire with his hand up, by way of signalling that I was out. I pulled up to learn that in making the shot I had touched the stumps and removed the bails, and, of course, I had to go. Having played for Bowral in the district competitions, I was eligible to take part in the final match of the season. Their opponents were Moss Vale, against whom, in the previous season. I had scored 300. There was much of the “ needle ” in the match. The nearer the neighbour the keener the rivalry; it is the same the world over.

320 For Bowral In Country Final.

Moss Vale were in high feather when they won the toss, but they were all out after batting some two hours and a half. At six o’clock that night—the match started at half-past two—l was 58 not out. We resumed, according to regulations, on the following Saturday afternoon. Bowral scored 480, of which I made 320 not out. Whether as a result of my huge score I do not know, but a rule was passed that no first grade player, which, by that time, I had become, was free to play in such competitions; he was ever afterward barred.

There was much said about this particular performance; at least, it attracted notice, and from what afterwards transpired I feel that it established me permanently as a first-class player. It now dawned on me more than ever that, having to travel to and from Bowral, my opportunity for practice on turf was impossibly small. There was only concrete to play on round and about my home, besides, I felt it to be of first importance that I should have as much practice as possible against first-class bowlers, and under the best conditions.

Before I went to live in Sydney I was selected to represent New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide, and I left my native State for the first time in my life. The journey to Adelaide, to my young mind, was like travelling to the other end of the earth, and it had the effect of intensifying a desire that had developed, and which I confess 1 encouraged, to see the world. I was fully conscious of the great honour that had come my way in the space of two short years. The previous summer was my first in grade cricket, and now I was to play for my State against South Australia. I was then entering my nineteenth year. My selection to play in this match fired me with a real desire to give of my very best. I realised that it might be only a short step from inter-State cricket to a place in the Australian side against England, and, as I was already dreaming of one day getting to England, I was now more than ever determined to make good.

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