Young Bradman

57 New South Wales That Bradman, who thrived on certainty, was rootless may explain his mixed form, and hence fortunes. In mid-October 1927, before the state’s first match against the New Zealand tourists returning home from England, the New South Wales selectors Dick Jones, Andrew Ratcliffe and Gar Waddy – all with impeccable first grade backgrounds - picked 29 men to practice at the SCG. Bradman was not one of them. That squad did include Jackson, Scanes, and O’Reilly; Bradman was only one of nine named by the critic Not Out in The Referee , as not chosen despite excellent 1926/27 seasons. Bradman began on 1 October 1927 bowled for four at home to Petersham, and bowled for seven in the second innings the next Saturday. In round three on 15 October, he made 130 not out of 258 inside three hours, against Paddington at Hampden Oval: ‘He was never in trouble to any of the bowling.’ In another sign of how Bradman still had much to learn, Alan Fairfax was ‘unfortunate in being run out through a bad call by Bradman’. Charles Kelleway however seemed to favour Bradman’s teammate Albert Scanes, who opened with 50 in an hour and ‘played brilliantly’, whereas Bradman ‘was sound rather than brilliant’. ‘What should impress selectors is the way runs are made rather than the number scored,’ Kelleway wrote. At home to Randwick at the end of October, Bradman was out caught for seven. O’Reilly meanwhile was bowling for New South Wales as the state thrashed the New Zealanders; another sign that the state was more short of bowlers, and looked to promote any it did find, than batsmen. On the first two Saturdays of November, Bradman was fielding. On Wednesday 16 November during ‘country week’, Bradman opened with Fairfax for a combined St George University team – in cricket terms, he belonged to the city by now – and made 125 not out of 229 for three in reply to 351. The Monday after, Bradman was one of a combined first grade team captained by Waddy against the combined country team at the SCG. The Saturday before, 19 November, Bradman opened with Scanes for St George at University Oval and was caught for two. In the first grade averages, that left Bradman after five innings, one not out, with 150 runs at an average of 37.5; ahead of Scanes and some notables such as Warren Bardsley, but only 18 th , and one of ten men who had made centuries. Jackson, by comparison, had made 302 runs at an average of 100.66, and Kippax 345 at 115. As Kelleway had rightly written, numbers were not everything. Eighteenth in the bowling averages was Mailey, and O’Reilly 23 rd . Rain ruined the last Saturday in November, and on 3 December Bradman opened with his captain, Scanes, and made 40 not out of 67 for one against Marrickville at Hurstville. That took Bradman to an average of 47.5 and 13 th place. Earlier that week in their first Sheffield Shield match of the season, Queensland beat visitors New South Wales on first innings. The Referee gave its verdict on Bradman’s season so far; he had not repeated his Bowral run-getting for St George, but had made a century (only first grade matches seemed to count), and had been going well on 40 not out: ‘Bradman is a keen field, and one whom the selectors ought to keep their eyes on these times when stars are not twinkling on every bush.’