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The world lost a beautiful soul on this day, February 25, whose name is forever etched in the history of cricket, Sir Donald George Bradman. Popularly known as ‘The Don’ was one of the greatest cricketers the sport has ever seen, the right-handed bastman who hailed from Cootamundra, New South Wales. The trust that he exuberated was pure class. The quickest of the pacers Bradmank had faced knew what they were up against. An aggressive Aussie who would hammer the ball out of the park and make the opposition as exhausted as possible, while in the middle of the field, comfortably out there. On February 25, 2001, Sir Don Bradman passed away at the age of 92 after fighting against pneumonia.
Bradman was intrepid during his prime. The swashbuckler had just gone out and done what he had done best. Hammer the opposition, and help win with his side. From 1928 to 1948, Bradman represented Australia and was part of two sides that, in his career, lost the Ashes twice. Once, on his debut series from 1928-1929 and the second from 1932-1933, when Douglas Jardline used the ‘Bodyline’ tactic to ensure that the opposition was not freely scoring. Well, that tactic did nothing to prevent Bradman from scoring a sublime century and three fifties and his legendary status was only raised by the runs scored.
As the world of cricketing pays its ‘The Don’ tribute, here are the top Don Bradman cricket records that may never be broken:
Many runs in opposition to single opposition
Don Bradman just loved to face England, and he has done so much that the Don holds the record against a single opposition for the most runs scored. Bradman scored a mammoth 5,028 runs against England and also played against the team in 37 test matches. As the former Australian captain has scored 2,800 runs against England, Steve Smith is in second place in the list, but the swashbuckler may not be able to achieve the humorous record set by Don Bradman.
Single Opposition, most centuries against
Bradman also holds the record for scoring the most centuries against a single opposition, the English team, together with the runs scored against England. In the Ashes series, Don scored 19 centuries against England. Smith is behind the Don once more, as the swashbuckler has scored against England for 11 centuries. To get past Bradman, the former Australian captain will have to score nine more, but even that may be too much for him. Sunil Gavaskar of India scored 13 centuries against West Indies, which Bradman sees on this record at the top of the mountain.
The Highest Average Batting
The reason why Don was so revered was simply because he went out to the center of the crease, had no fear, and played the best cricket he could possibly do. The prodigious batting average set by Bradman is 99.94, a benchmark that the players of today only dream of achieving. Scoring an average of 99.94 means that almost every inning played was scored by the Aussie brute for a century and no player has ever come close to that. While leading Australia, his average also jumped to 101.51 and that is another record that will never be broken.
300 Single-Day Runs
Yes. Yes. You read that correctly. A ‘The Single Day.’ In Test matches, Batsman has gone on to score three tons, but on a single day, how about scoring 300 runs. Well, only ‘The Don’ could have done that. Bradman came on to bat in a test match against England at Leeds in 1930 after only eleven deliveries were bowled when the day began and no one expected a clobbering like the way Bradman did against the opposition. In a single day, Bradman scored 309 runs and was dismissed for 334 the other day. Well, so far, no cricketer has ever been able to accomplish that feat.
The Fastest in Thousands
Now, we hear about Virat Kohli becoming the fastest to break a record, or Smith becoming the fastest to break a record, but it was the Don that set the fastest records in the beginning. Bradman’s astronomical batting average and the ability to score runs whenever he feels like it. The Australian swashbuckler was the fastest to reach multiple test runs of 1000. It took 13 innings for Bradman to reach 1000 runs, 22 innings for 2000 runs, 33 innings for 3000, 48 innings for 4000, 56 innings for 5000, and 68 innings for 6000. After scoring a total of 6996 runs in Test cricket, Bradman retired, and it was from there on that cricketers surpassed and created 7,000 runs and more records.
It is quite simply put, with these records, that Don Bradman was one of the greatest cricketers to grace the sport ever. Only cricketers can aspire and influence the legacy he has left behind to try and emulate the records he set.
