Richie Benaud on Don Bradman
To mark the launch of an official new Don Bradman book, cricket legend Richie Benaud writes of his personal encounters with The Don
By Richie Benaud
Speaking or writing? Which aspect of Bradman would you prefer: to hear him speak in some unusual context or read something he has written on the game? Some might have preferred to see him bat, make a hundred, play a short dynamic innings to twist a game Australia's way, even to win it. Bradman was the best example of how Australian cricket provides opportunity for all. Eighty-five years ago, a youngster living in a country town wanting to play Sheffield Shield could travel to the city, play on a Saturday afternoon, then complete the match the following Saturday. Cricket in Australia still gives that kind of opportunity to youngsters, though in a more modern sophisticated manner.
On the question of speaking and writing, I was able in later years to listen to Bradman and to read what he had written and there are two occasions that stand out. First there was the time of the Tied Test at the Gabba in Brisbane. It was 8 December, 1960 on the evening of the practice day prior to the start of the most famous Test of all. There was a good chance I wouldn't play in that game against Frank Worrell's team.
New South Wales had just completed a Sheffield Shield match against Victoria at the MCG, I had spent the Sunday rest day, Monday and Tuesday in bed with what was diagnosed as very severe tonsillitis. We arrived in Brisbane late on the Wednesday and on the Thursday I went through one hell of a fitness test under the watchful eyes of Jack Ryder, Dudley Seddon and Sir Donald Bradman. Somehow I passed it, then Sir Donald asked if he could come to our team meeting that evening to have a quick chat to the team. No inkling what it was about. I said I would go and ask the boys if that unusual request was OK and I went back to him and said, "7.30pm in my room at Lennon's."
His talk was short and to the point. He was carrying a message from the selectors that this could be a wonderful year of cricket and that this Australian team in 1960–61 could lead the way to one of the most attractive cricket series seen in Australia. "The selectors will look in kindly fashion on players who play aggressively and are clearly thinking about those who pay their money at the turnstiles." It followed that they would be looking in unkindly fashion on those who allowed the game to be unattractive for the cricket follower!
The second occasion was the written word in Wisden of 1986 where he drew the comparison between Test cricket and limited-overs internationals. "Whither cricket now?" was brilliantly constructed and in the course of it he confessed to a love for both types of games. He added that limited-overs cricket rids the game of the unutterable bore who thinks occupancy of the crease and his own personal aggrandisement are all that matter. He stressed the fielding improvement and the fact that it is not necessarily true the one-day game has brought in its wake a decline in batting technique. He said this may have some validity but people get confused between a normal mode of play and the essential improvisation needed to circumvent defensive fields.
Twenty-two years ago he was writing about television and instant replays, suggesting, long before anyone else, that umpires, when in doubt about a decision could seek arbitration from "the box" for run-outs, stumpings, disputed catches and boundary decisions. He was well ahead of his time, concluding that cricket had its problems for a century past. "Things have not changed much. Problems are still there – they are just different. It remains for players and administrators to accept the challenge to keep cricket alive and vibrant and not to shrink from the decisions needed to ensure that end."
Brilliant speaking and thinking.
Icons of World Sport: Don Bradman is on sale now, $79.95 (RovingEye).