E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: Now that the World Cup is almost here, big hitting will become the staple for cricket watchers for over a month.
But is there anything to beat The Original Master who scored a 23-ball hundred 75 years ago?
On 3 November 1931, Sir Donald Bradman, while playing for Blackheath against Lithgow, scored 256 runs comprising 14 sixes and 29 fours.
The real beauty of that knock is that Sir Don scored 101 in one ball short of three Australian overs! ( Earlier, they used to play 8 ball overs in Australia).
His partner Wenden Bill played only a ball during the onslaught and he took a single in the third over which enabled Sir Don to get back on strike. Wenden eventully ended up scoring 68.
The sequence of Sir Don’s scoring is as below:
First over: 6,6,4,2,4,4,6,1.
Second over: 6,4,4,6,6,4,6,4.
Third over: 1,6,6,1,1,4,4,6.
This knock was in an era of uncovered pitches when batsmen were not covered from head to toe with helmets, extra padding from ribs downwards, and hand guards right up to the bat handle!
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Why hasn’t any batsman broken the record in 75 years? Will a batsman ever score such a knock ever again? Can it take place in this World Cup? Who among the current lot is most likely to rival this amazing innings? Tell us.
Thanks for sharing this little known information. This in a way relates to the question put forward at the end of the latest article on churumuri on Roger federer story.
http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2007/02/26/all-hail-the-greatest-sportsman-on-the-planet/
I guess it is not a media hype but a media contribution in unearthing a great sporting hero. If media in year 1931 had reach to homes like today then this achievement by Sir Don would have been a legendary sporting lore which every kid today would have been aware of.
Thanks again for highlighting this little known fact in mainstream.
When my Dad asked me what I wanted for my 8th Birthday, I asked “I want to know what “G” stands for in D.G.Bradman’s name. He then brought be the book “The Art of Batting”. I was thrilled to read in the book’s jacket that the letter “G” stands for George. Since I was 7, I have been a great fan of his and devoured all the source I could lay my hands and ears on. Since, my father was a classmate of the great G.R.Viswanath, B.Chandrashekar and EAS Prasanna, they filled me with tid bits about the greatest batsman on earth.
Coming to the resonse, – I can certainly say that no one can match the style, humility of the genteel Bradman. Amen
That’s pyjama cricket at its best.