Emulate Bradman
View(s):During the past few months every time you look at the newspapers or watch television you will see some records have been broken by a player especially batsman. These numerous records were set by Chris Gayle of W. Indians and our own Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasooriya, Dilshan, Lahiru Thirimanna, and also by de Villiers of South Africa.
But there is a record set by Sir Donald Bradman in a test match in the early 1930′s which so far has not been broken and never likely to be broken in the future.
Sir Donald Bradman was born in August 1908. It is said that Bradman was a very devoted family man and rarely attended parties when playing Cricket. As result he was fit enough to play cricket till he was 40 years of age.
Unfortunately Bradman could not play any Cricket for nearly seven years due to Adolf Hitler (1939-1945) and this was considered to be the best period of his life that is form 31 to 37 years. Had he played during this period the number of records he would have established can never be imagined.
Apart from the several batting records Bradman had established, the best was the memorable marathon innings of 334 not out scored in a Test match in England in the early 1930s. In this 5 day test match he scored 304 runs in a single day. He scored 100 runs before lunch, another 100 runs between lunch and tea and another 100 runs between tea and close of play. He scored this 300 runs after facing the world’s fastest bowlers and without wearing any helmets and numerous guards used by the present day players.
It is interesting to know whether his Coach (if he had one) or Manager or his Captain warned him that his was a 5 day Test match and therefore he should not be in a hurry.
Ranjan Goonetillake
Panadura