Secrets of Bradman's skills still being unravelled

Greg Buckle

Sir Donald Bradman not only broke cricket's records, he also broke most of its rules.

The Australian, who died on Sunday, aged 92, was an unorthodox player whose secrets are still being unravelled more than half a century after he tucked his bat under his arm and walked off the field for the last time.

Regarded as the world's greatest player, Bradman can be seen on grainy film thrashing the ball through the off-side field with his front foot nowhere near the pitch of the ball.

A flowing on-drive crashes into the fence despite the fact that Bradman's nimble front foot is pointing towards mid-off, not mid-on as specified in the coaching manuals.

"He must have had wonderful eyesight to pick up the line and length so quickly and get into position," former England fast bowling great Fred Trueman observed.

Yet Bradman's eyesight was faulty and led to him being invalided out of the Australian Army during the Second World War.

He succeeded, coaches said, thanks to superior concentration, foot speed and sheer talent, despite his self-taught technique.

Bradman's unorthodox backlift, straying from the accepted model of resting the bat behind the back foot then drawing it straight back toward the stumps, was expected to be his undoing on his first Ashes tour of England in 1930.

But he made a series record of 974 runs with four centuries, averaging a colossal 139.14.

Bradman raised his bat towards gully from its resting place between his feet, at a angle close to 45 degrees.

Observers say this gave Bradman a better balance through the whole of his backswing.

He averaged an unrivalled 99.94 in 52 Tests, scoring 6,996 runs between 1928 and 1948, including 29 centuries.

English university professor Adrian Lees studied Bradman's technique last year. He used two batsmen, 16 electronic sensors and six cameras to produce three-dimensional computer images of a cricket stroke played either conventionally or with the unorthodox backlift.

The Bradman method was found to have two advantages. It allowed the batsman to delay his decision on which shot to play and its forward motion automatically put the batsman on his toes.

More on Sir Don Bradman

Mail Cricket Editor