Young Bradman

96 England out’, Pelham Warner wrote – that phrase again - in his book, The Fight for the Ashes in 1930 . Warner praised Bradman’s ‘perfect co-ordination of feet, arms, wrist and bat’ and, the same thing said another way, ‘an exact sense of balance’. The only fault came when Bradman helped to run out Vic Richardson; Bradman drove a ball straight, which the bowler Leslie Wright touched onto the stumps when Richardson was out of his crease; a strange repeat from the exhibition match at Bowral, two years before. Warner called Bradman faultless; Bridges reported a hard chance when Bradman was 216, which the bowler George Brook fumbled. Like his captain Woodfull, bowled earlier for 133, Bradman got himself out and in Henley’s words ‘put side before self’. He skied a full toss from Brook, his first mis-hit, and Cyril Walters ran a few yards to hold the catch at square leg. How good was that 236, or put another way, how bad were Worcestershire? The host county had been weak for years and the summer before finished one from bottom of the County Championship. Of their eleven, only Fred Root had played for England, and the ‘master of in-swing to a close set field’ had just turned 40. In other words, had Bradman proved himself yet? English and Australian newspapers the next day quoted Monty Noble: It is useless to talk about weak counties, and second-rate bowling. Root is one of the most difficult bowlers to score off in England. Bradman belted him into subjection. I am not afraid to say that he will do it to their best; that is, if they have any better bowlers than Root. Australia beat Worcestershire by an innings by 1.15 pm on Friday 2 May, and thus could catch an earlier train to Leicester for their match the next A Sydney Sun cartoon after the match against Worcestershire, where the Australian kangaroo enjoyed Worcester sauce.