by Mayukh Ghosh
There are many ways one can measure Don Bradman’s greatness. But, perhaps, one of the things that really stand out is how taking his wicket had made bowlers famous. There were bowlers, with ordinary careers, who dismissed Bradman and went on to become household names.
Mention Bill Bowes and the mind wanders to the Melbourne Test in December 1932.
Mention Eric Hollies and the first thing that comes to mind is the famous Bradman duck at The Oval in 1948.
And there are more.
Lesser known names.
Bill Bowes (1932-33)
Bradman, having missed the first Test at Sydney, was cheered on to the field when his turn to bat came. He took his time as he reached the crease, expecting the crowd’s cheer to die down by then.
Not to be.
Bill Bowes began his run only to stop midway because of the deafening noise. To fill in time he asked his mid-on to move up to silly mid-on.
He tried to bowl again and had to stop again. This time he moved the fine-leg fieldsman to the edge of the boundary. Bowes noticed that Bradman was observing all the changes carefully.
He thought: “He now expects a bouncer. Can I fool him?”
It was third time lucky for Bowes. He bowled with the most menacing expression on his face. Bradman was fooled by the length of the ball and, being the great batsman he was, he made the adjustment, but it was too late. A very faint inside edge resulted in the ball crashing on to his stumps.
The crowd was silenced and amidst the chaos, they watched Douglas Jardine clasping his hands above his head and dancing.
First ball duck for the great batsman. An achievement that stayed with Bowes forever.
P.S. Bradman scored a century in the second innings and helped Australia win the Test.
Eric Hollies (1948)
“And now, here’s Hollies to bowl to Bradman from the Vauxhall End. He bowls, Bradman goes back across his wicket and pushes the ball gently in the direction of the Houses of Parliament which are out beyond mid-off.
No run, still 117 for 1. Two slips, a silly mid-off, and a forward short-leg close to him as Hollies pitches the ball up slowly and…..he’s bowled.
*A round of applause*
Bradman, bowled Hollies, nought.
Bowled Hollies, nought”
John Arlott, commentating for BBC.
Had emotion finally got the better of the world’s greatest run-maker?
“I don’t know, I can’t say that. But I can tell you he was dry-eyed!”, was Allan Watkins’ response. He was the man fielding nearest to Bradman.
Hollies did his job.
He took another 2322 wickets in First-class cricket. Many of them with better balls, having more impact in the outcome of the matches. He was instrumental in Warwickshire’s unlikely county championship triumph in 1951.
But it was getting Bradman out for a duck, that too in his last Test innings, that made Hollies a famous name in the world of cricket and beyond.
Bill Andrews (1938)
Bill Andrews was a professional cricketer who represented Somerset in the 1930s. He was a larger than life character who had a fund of stories on county cricket. Many were apocryphal but they were bloody good.
His greatest moment came in 1938 when he dismissed Bradman bowled.
The world’s greatest batsman, in Andrews’ words, ‘took a blind swipe’ and lost his stumps in the process.
Since that day, whenever Andrews met anyone for the first time, he never forgot to say: “Shake the hand that bowled Bradman”.
In 1973, Andrews’ autobiography (ghosted by David Foot) was published.
The title summed up his career: The Hand That Bowled Bradman
P.S. Bradman scored 202 before Andrews dismissed him that day. But that hardly mattered- he had dismissed the best ever batsman, clean bowled!
Malcolm Hilton (1948)
Bradman’s team started the tour as expected. They won their first eight matches comfortably. Seven of them were innings victories.
Their ninth match was against Lancashire at Old Trafford.
19-year-old left-arm spinner Malcolm Hilton got Bradman out bowled in the first innings.
In the second innings, he beat him with three consecutive balls before dismissing him stumped.
Young Hilton became an overnight sensation.
“The Boy Who Bowled Bradman” was subjected to royal treatment wherever he went.
Hilton’s career didn’t quite live up to the promise he showed that day in Manchester.
Lancashire’s autocratic skipper Cyril Washbrook was not very impressed with him and made sure that his career was not prolonged much.
But, Malcolm Hilton did what many better bowlers could not- he dismissed Bradman twice in a first-class match.
Paul Brooks (1938)
Paul Brooks had the unique achievement of going through the defences of Don Bradman despite never ever bowling in a first-class match.
Brooks was a left-arm medium pacer when, aged 16, he was invited to join the Lord’s ground staff.
When the Australians came, he was asked to bowl at them in the nets.
And when the chance to bowl at Bradman came, he pierced through his defences and hit the middle stump.
The magnitude of the achievement was understandable and he was immediately interviewed on British Movietone News.
The next year he got a chance to play for Middlesex in a first-class match. He scored an unbeaten 44 but did not get a chance to bowl against the Warwickshire batsmen.
The very next day Germany invaded Poland and that was it for first-class cricket in England.
Brooks played a few wartime matches and impressed the spectators.
He was serving as a corporal in the Coldstream Guards in Italy when he was shot in the back by a sniper.
He lay in a hospital for months before succumbing to the injuries on January 26th 1946.
He didn’t really have a cricket career and died too young but the British Movietone clip (available on Youtube) has made it possible for all of us to see the delight of a young 17-year old net bowler after he went through the defences of the world’s greatest batsman.