Did you know? Bradman was dropped after his debut Test

New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) Legendary Australian batsman Donald Bradman is regarded to be the greatest batsman ever to have played the game of cricket.In a career that spanned over almost 20 years, Bradman played 52 Test matches for Australia in which he scored 6,996 runs at an unbelievable average of 99.94. He scored 29 hundreds in his stellar career and even got the recognition of being called as 'Sir' Don Bradman. However, his career didn't have a great start. After making his Test debut against England in 1928, Bradman was in fact dropped from the team. In his debut match which started on November 30, 1928 in Brisbane, Bradman didn't have a great outing and could muster on 19 runs (18 while batting at No. 7 and 1 while batting at No. 6) in the two innings he played. England went on to win that match by a whopping margin of 675 runs. In the second Test played at the SCG from December 14-20, Bradman was not included in the playing XI and England again went on to win that match by eight wickets. In the third Test played in Melbourne from December 29, Bradman was part of Australia's XI and returned with 79 and 112 in the two innings. However, Australia once again ended up on the losing side as England won the match by three wickets. In the fourth Ashes Test, the legendary batsman scored 40 and 58 while in the fifth and final Test, Bradman returned with scores of 123 and 37 not out. Australia lost that Ashes series 1-4. However, they gifted the world a batsman who went on to shatter record books in the times to come.
--IANS aak/in