Young Bradman

91 England Bradman to keep a diary. WG and EM Grace, William Clarke and George Parr kept diaries, said The Cricketer in 1924: ‘The preservation of such a diary or scrapbook is the means of recalling many a gallant fight in an uphill or closely contested game and of reviving happy memories of friends with whom one has lost touch.’ Assuming the diary in the Albums is the full one, Bradman did not seem to use it to log facts about his batting, for self- improvement. Grimmett, who busied himself on the ocean writing a book about how to bowl, might have added what later players such as Steve Waugh knew; that a diary might have a market. That would mean sharing it with an audience, one more sign of the change that Bradman was going through, of adapting to fame. Every sight was new to himwest of Adelaide; and the itinerary did not allow much time for pausing. The 15 sailed from Perth on the evening of Monday 24 March, having parted from the same ship in Melbourne, after two three- day matches in Tasmania. The days they saved by crossing Australia by train they used to play Western Australia in a three-day match, that ended on the day they sailed. The tour was work, and the 15 had their Sundays and not many other days free. While Bradman did the same touristy things as the others, and anyone else, on the journey and once in England, it’s telling that this man knew his own mind, and had enough about him, to go his own way sometimes; and from the start. He had not set off from Sydney Central but had joined the train at Moss Vale; poignantly, some Southern Highlands people he knew had joined him on the train as far as Goulburn, then got off. Two nights before, the district had sung ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow’ again to him in the Empire Theatre. The ticket money (gentlemen three shillings, ladies two) from the gathering went towards a ‘wallet of notes’, as spending money for Bradman. The 1930 Australian touring team. Left to right, back: Stan McCabe, Alec Hurwood, Tim Wall, Percy Hornibrook, Ted A’Beckett, Alan Kippax, Clarrie Grimmett, Bert Oldfield. Front row: Don Bradman, Bill Ponsford, Vic Richardson, Bill Woodfull, Charlie Walker, Archie Jackson, Alan Fairfax.