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BRADMAN THE WONDER
BIGGEST CRICKET DRAW IN
ENGLAND
POLISHED OFF THE RECORDS
ARTHUR MAILEY
London. June 5.
Bradman is the biggest cricket draw
in England at present. Last week
at Hampshire he scored his thou-<*>
sandth run. and performed a feat.
| that no other Australian lias ever i
done—that of scoring 1.000 runs in '
May. That, of course, is past history,
but it is interesting to knov; that tho 1
climatic conditions were all against
tall scoring.
This has been one of the most un
pleasant summers experienced in Eng
land for years. Englishmen come
along bubbling over •with apologies
about the weather. "Of course, you
fellows have struck an extraordinary I
summer. We do expect about this '■,
j time a lili.le f-unshir.e, and warmth; [
; but, dammit, men, we haven't seen '
i the sun since last summer."' :
I One of the Australian cricketers
; rushed out of his room tlip other
i morning-, camera in hand, and told the :
j lift man to hurry because he had !
1 heard the sun was shining, and was '
! anxious to get a photograph of it. !
j Xo Records Lett
i Despite tlieiie unpleasant conditions, i
however. Bradman has performed a,
wonderful feat, and is already looking !
for fresh -worlds to conquer." I don't j
know whether Bradman knows any
thing about records, or whether he ever j
) reads Wisden's Cricket Almanack. If ;
he picks up Wisden's how I cm
imagine his throwing it down i:i dis
gust after reading that there are no
records left to be broken. !
The English cricket diehards are |
rather unappreciative persons as a t
rule. To them nothing is as good as I
it was excepting their own know
ledge of cricket. But they seem to
he unanimous in their praise regarding
Bradman. I have spoken to several
first-class cricketers of other genera
tions, and they are all amazed at the
performances of Bradman. "This
kid." said Archie Maclaren to me at
Lord's yesterday, "is one of the most
wonderful cricketers I have ever seen.
Look at him now," he said, as Bradman
had just hit a good ball to the
square )es boundary. "I have never
i seen a man who could ylav a Ehot bet
j lev luau that.
i Praise from Ranji.
Ranji was sitting oa the other side
of Maclaren. and he was just as en
thusiastic about Bradman. Ranji. of
COUTS2. is not the lithe athletic
cricketer who charmed the Australian
public 20 or 30 years ago. Ranji has
fallen away to flesh. He is short
and round, and just what you would
expect an Indian potentate to be. In
the right costume he would make an
excellent Rajah of Bhoug. He is very
concerned about the Gandhi trouble
j in India, aud has a surprising know
! ledge of Australian conditions.
| It is really surprising to meet so
jmany people in England who became
suddenly interested in Australia when
we stopped letters of credit, and
passed legislation to prevent the im
portation of luxuries and other goods.
One well-known Lancashire cricketer
! told me that he had finished with the
Australian cricketers. He doesn't in
tend to streak to them any more on
I account of the action the Australian
Commonwealth has taken in connec
tion with tariffs. This man talks real
Lancashire lingo, and is very hard to
understand, so the Australian cricket
ers are not mis King much after aIL
He was the only man iv England
who did not appreciate the greatness
of Bradman, aud the only man who
could convince my Lancashire friend
that Bradman is as good a cricketer
as Mr. Scullin.
Overshadowed Everybody
Bradman is making it very hard for
the rest of the Australian team. He
seems to have overshadowed everybody
on the side. The solid, dependable,
and reliable Woodfull, although in.
great form, and picking up tons of
runs, is playing second fiddle to the
80-sitsl lad. while, with the exception
of Ponsford, the others are not even
in the band. Bradman lias put him
self in a very unenviable position. If
he scores less than 100 or 150 hs is
put down as having failed.
Kippas and McCabe are also batting
well. The latter had a bad start, and
threatened at one time to be a fail
ure, but his performances against
Oxford. Hampshire, and in the pre
sent match at Lord's suggest that he
is right at the top of his form, and
should score hundreds of runs.
Only Two Bowlers
As far as the bowling is concerned
it appears to be a two-man show—
Hornibrook and Grimmett. Still, if
two bowlers can win matches, why
have any more? lam just a bit
afraid, however, that Hobbs & Co.
will be playing these two bowlers
a little different to county bats
men. Hendren in particular is a very
nasty fellow to bowl at. He walks
down the pitch, and hits what should
have been a good length ball on the
full while Hammond and Woolley are
equally as dangerous to the Australian
I bowlers.
I One of the most pleasant matches
I played was the Oxford match. The
I Oxford cricketers are splendid sports
men and very cheerful opponents. I
am told they are good hosts. If the
Australians had their choice of towns
I think they would choose London
first and Oxford second.
Speaking of London reminds me
that Richardson, McCabe, and Jackson
v/ere standing in Trafalgar-square
one night when McCabe suggested
that they would get a taxi and drive
to Nelson's Monument. They called
a taxi, and gave the driver the instruc
tions—the driver hasn't recovered jet.
'Nelson's Monument Is in the middle
of Trafalgar-square.
! i
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