Young Bradman

28 Beginnings Johnny Taylor. Australia wicket-keeper Sammy Carter. From the Sydney Referee newspaper, a 1922 caricature of Tom McDonald. And that was a fantastic innings, I had never seen anything like that. I also saw Johnny Taylor who was one of my boyhood heroes, he only made 32, but he was a beautiful batsman to watch and he was also marvellous in the outfield. That encouraged me a lot, to see a man so good in the outfield. I can recall Gregory and McDonald; I had never seen anything as fast as that. I can still hear the sound of the ball going into Sammy Carter’s gloves when they bowled, an extraordinary thing after all these years. Frank Woolley played a beautiful innings [England’s first innings top score of 53], was never afraid to hit the ball over the top, which I can recall quite well. But Percy Fender strangely enough took a catch in the slips and as he took it he threw the ball away, all in the same instance; I had never seen that before . Interestingly, Bradman’s memory was of fielding as much as batting and bowling; at home he was testing himself with another game, throwing a golf ball against a rounded rail on a fence, which made him aim accurately; useful for hitting the stumps for run outs.