Young Bradman

94 England three years; he planned in his head in advance. The plan was not original. In his novel That Test Match , Sir Home Gordon had a ‘magnate of cricket’ advise Paul Rignold before he went on tour with MCC: ‘You cannot make runs in the morning if you have sat up until two or three the night before playing bridge in a cloud of tobacco or else dancing.’ Still, Bradman was running the risk of getting a bad name as an ungrateful guest, someone who knew better than his fellow tourists; as indeed by now he did. Even his talk with Root was for a purpose. Bradman’s first question was ‘does George Geary turn the ball a lot on English wickets?’. Bradman was already thinking ahead to the next match, seeking to learn from the best source in Worcester about the most dangerous bowler in the next match, against Leicestershire, starting two days later. Few people knew any of this. They only saw the batting. As the Australians arrived at Worcester Shrub Hill station on Tuesday 29 April, on the 6.00 pm train from London, an article in the next day’s Sydney Morning Herald was previewing the tour. ‘An immense curiosity exists as to what manner of batsman he is,’ the anonymous ‘special correspondent’ wrote of Bradman: Anyone who has seen him play has been besieged by questioners during the past year or so. Curiously there has grown up a general impression in England that he is so unorthodox that his methods might not succeed on English wickets. Better judges, including members of the last MCC team, are sanguine that his cricketing genius and keen love of the game will assure him success. A view of Worcestershire county ground from the top of Worcester Cathedral in 2016.