CRICKET REGISTER

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 103, 28 October 1933, Page 25

CRICKET REGISTER

BRADMAN'S MASSIVE : TOTAL

LOCAL ENTHUSIAST'S WORK

(By "Not OutV") . Prior to the start of' the present cricket season Don Bradman had scored 26,619 runs, "and" in the process ho had made 106 three-figure scores with the world's first-class record'of.'4s2 not out as'his highest. ■-This :phenomenal rungetting has been made at a high averago per innings, but, even, so, Bradman shares with other. groat batsmen the experience of having made "blobs." It will probably surprise many people to know that Bradman has failed on thirteen occasions to break his duck. These and many other details of Don Bradman's amazing career are shown in a unique statistical compilation by a young Wellington enthusiast, Don Meliityre, of Karori, who has the great bats-, man's word for it that it is the only complete work of its kind in the--world apart from Bradman's own record of his scores. Don Mclntyra has mado a hobby of recording Bradman's scores, and so complete is the-,.volume that not a single score is missing. To mako sure that everything recorded was O.K. and that all scores were there, he sent his record on to Bradman to have it checked over. Bather a tall order, but Bradman was only too p]bp.sed to assist the young Wellingtonian. "Although you may think that you were worrying me," Don Bradman wrote in returning the copy with such corrections as were necessary and with each page autographed, "I was really delighted to receive your letter and the record file. I wish to tender you my hearty and sincere congratulations on what I regard as a very fine work. Your energy and patience deserve rewarding, and I. have taken a keen interest in recheeking the file. You will be pleased to know that, apart from myself, you are the only person in the world, possessing a complete and authentic record of my scores in detail at'tho present moment.'' It is evident that Bradman spent a good deal of time over tho file, and. his expression of willingness to assist again at any future time is typical of this fine sportsman, who groatly impressed those who actually met. him whea he was in Wellington. Bradman is .very keen to come back to Wellington. Ho had hoped to bring a young.toam over, but this has not been possible so far. No doubt, if it can be managed,, he will come with tho Australian team later in the season, but it is going to mean a rush for such members of the team for England a,s are prepared to come here in February. . ; . STRING OF RECORDS. Bradman's aggregate scores are shown as follows in the record book' under notice:: —1925-26 season (for Bowral), 1318; 1926-27, during which he was brought out as a first-grade player in Sydney, 1577; 1927-28, 1155; 1928-29, 2616; 1929-30, 3659 .(average 107.62); 1930 (in England), 3170; 1930----31, 2679; 1931-32,-4053- (average 98.8); 1932 (in America and Canada), 3782 (avcrago 102.1); 1932-33, 2610} In 1925----26 Bradinan mado scores of 234 and 300, which were records for tho district, and these were bettered by hyn in the f6l-. lowing season with a score of 32,0 not out. He made a century (110) on his first appearance in a grade match in Sydney (1926-27), and.in his first interstate match in tho following season he did likewise. Eleven three-figure scores by him in the 1928-29 season included 132 not out on his first appearance against M.C.C. and the Sydney Criclcet Ground record of 340 iiot put (v.- Victoria). He improved greatly upon the last-mentioned feat by knock-• ing up 452 not out in the 1929-30 season, and in another match he mado 124.> in the morning (first innings). :and 225'■*!»■ tho afternoon (second innmgs)<-«ui extraordiary achievement for one ''dajh Also in that season he made consecutive scores of 107 not out, 127 not out, 228 not out, 126\not^out, and 187. Re-. cord-breaking feats by Bradinan were numerous on the tour of England .in 1930: 236, highest score ever made by an Australian player in the openipg" game of a tour; 334, Teet record; 254, highest individual Test score at Lord's; 232, highest individual Test score at the Oval; 231, record seebnd-wicket partnership with Woodfull; 243, record fourth-wicket partnership with Jackson; six scores of over 200, greatest number by any Australian on an English tour; and the record aggregate for a series of Tests. Four double-centuries in the 1930-31 season included a record against the West Indies. In 1931-32 ho twice broke the St. (fieorge record

score, and with 20!> not out set a new mark for New 'South Wales against South Australia. Last season he registered the highest score on repord for New South Wales against Victoria.. .- Bradman has started on another season, and already he has made sOnic centuries. It looks as though :; tho wonder batsman will have much' more work for the cricket statisticians. ' ;.