Young Bradman

62 New South Wales city’s first grade). Perhaps in the privacy of Grimmett’s home, Bradman felt moved by the sheer novelty of it all – there he was, on a par with Grimmett, and yet a month before had no prospect of being an inter-state cricketer so soon. Perhaps only to a stranger could Bradman speak freely of his hopes. Bradman had proved, the Herald said afterwards, ‘that he is a player fitted for Sheffield Shield cricket’. That was as well, because in the next couple of matches his scores did little to show it. And chances were few. Albert Scanes, who made 44 and 26 at Adelaide, made single figures in the next match in Melbourne and never played for New South Wales again. Australian cricketers were not there for the money; Bradman recalled to Ray Martin in 1996 that he received ten shillings a day (‘and of course our hotel accommodation’). When Bradman ached for England, was he thinking, or at least dreaming, of earning a living there as a cricketer? As Fairfax did, and Bradman nearly did? A more useful source than Grimmett would have been the Middlesex and England batsman Patsy Hendren, who watched Bradman’s debut, as Hendren was wintering in Adelaide as a coach. Hendren was frank in an article in the Adelaide press in September 1927 - perhaps more frank than he would have been in England. ‘If I had a son he would not, if I could persuade him, become a professional cricketer,’ he said: The top notcher can and does get better pay [than £350 a year for a regular pro’], but can any man be sure when he enters cricket that he is going to succeed to this extent? We all hope to, and perhaps think we shall, but after being in the game as long as I have, you know how hopeless it is to build castles in the air …. Cricket is not easy. It is hard work, and the strain is tremendous. There is always someone knocking at the cricket door, waiting to come in, and so clearly marked are the proofs of one’s success or failure that no risks can be taken. Bradman would have seen that a man could make a living out of Australian cricket. A Melbourne newspaper gave the Victoria and Australia batsman Bill Ponsford a retainer, Arthur Mailey told readers of The Sun in Sydney in February 1928, while he mocked the authorities’ stingy 15 shillings a man a day for an Australian tour of New Zealand (that included Jackson; Bradman was one of three reserves). Young men then, before and since, tried to excel in any sport, or art, not for money or fame – though as Hendren admitted, a few might enjoy plenty. They did it for the same reason that a plant sprouts and grows as high as it can, no matter how bad the drought. No matter how badly it turns out, it would feel wrong not to make the effort. The Adelaide match ended with a half-day on the Wednesday 21 December, for the visitors to practice ‘at the Melbourne ground’ the next morning, where their match against Victoria began the morning after. After Victoria’s 355 on the Friday, two 45-year-old slow bowlers, Don Blackie and Bert Ironmonger, tested New South Wales’ batsmen on the second day. Arthur Mailey the day after described the ‘battle of wits’ of ‘Blackie v Bradman’, ‘age and experience against youth and innocence’. Bill Woodfull