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Bradman's last 'Test' match

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16th April, 2020
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How do cricket enthusiasts amuse themselves in lockdown when there’s no live cricket to watch?

Some stay immersed in the sport by reading, writing, tweeting, creating trivia quizzes and coming up with their various best XIs much, much more than normal.

Others post YouTube clips of past games, take requests and have campaigns for royal honours to be bestowed upon them.

The imagination runs wild in others. The creation of an end-of-season cricket presentation evening

Meanwhile, a virtual County Championship is being played out.

The most ‘viral’ of all of these must be Mark Church, who is playing a Test series against his back wall and his garden furniture.

This takes us back almost 50 years ago, when just before the 1971-72 Australian summer season began something strange occurred that a lockdown cannot explain.

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An imaginary Ashes Test match was played out over five days via a computer. A team of workers at the National Cash Register Corporation had made a detailed analysis of every run score and ball bowled in an Ashes Test in the United Kingdom since 1921. The data was fed into their computers which then converted it into probability tables about individual players.

Sir Donald Bradman had surprisingly agreed to select a team from the best players from the last 50 years to represent Australia. When no Stan McCabe or Clarrie Grimmett were chosen, eyebrows were raised. George ‘Gubby’ Allen, who was then president of the MCC, selected the English team to oppose them. The toss was done via radio-telephone link-up between England captain Peter May and Don Bradman. The latter chose to bat first at Lords in the computer ‘Test of the Century’.

There was quite a bit of publicity as cricket followers keenly checked their newspaper for the progress of the computer Test. Some are even pictured in Sydney watching a TV monitor at the NCR House as results were flashed up. However, when Bradman, whose average against England was 89.78, was caught and bowled by Hedley Verity for just 22 on the first day, many lost interest and regard for the experiment.

Harold Larwood’s failure to take a wicket in each innings and Neil Harvey and Bob Simpson’s double failures were among the other surprises that had to be defended by the NRC team.

The ‘Test’ regained some credibility when Bradman scored 222 in the second innings during a partnership of 265 with Arthur Morris.

When Australia ended up winning by 165 runs, Bill O’Reilly had taken only a wicket in each innings and was “glad this strange Test is over”. He warned his Sydney Morning Herald readers to “take heed of this mechanical accountancy and its inroads into the hallowed field of sporting endeavour”.

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When there is no sporting endeavour to enjoy in 2020, however, the warning has not been heeded, as the imagination has time to be inventive and keep alive the noble game in the strangest ways. Even the cantankerous O’Reilly had to admit that he was pleased that Australia had won “so handily” in Bradman’s ‘last’ Test match.

Australia's best-ever Don Bradman

(Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

Australia

Player First innings Second Innings
AR Morris lbw Laker 39 b Tate 142
WH Ponsford b Verity 81 b Laker 14
DG Bradman c and b Verity 22 c Hutton b Verity 222
CG Macartney b Verity 31 c Evans b Tate 1
RN Harvey b Hammond 4 lbw Laker 12
RB Simpson c Hobbs b Verity 18 b Laker 13
KR Miller lbw Tate 75 c Larwood b Laker 0
R Benaud c Compton b Tate 22 c Evans b Verity 5
RR Lindwall c Evans b Laker 15 c Tate b Hammond 15
D Tallon not out 6 c and b Verity 0
WJ O’Reilly b Tate 0 not out 7
Extras 8 6
Total 321 437
Tate 33.3-9-84-3 34-16-73-2
Larwood 26-4-75-0 25-6-78-0
Hammond 25-4-76-1 36.3-7-101-1
Laker 24-5-47-2 41-8-105-4
Verity 20-9-31-4 33-9-74-3

England

Player Fisrt innings Second innings
JB Hobbs b Lindwall 8 c Tallon b Miller 60
L Hutton c Tallon b Miller 86 b Lindwall 21
WR Hammond b Miller 10 c and b Benaud 58
DCS Compton b Miller 5 c Miller b Benaud 25
M Leyland b Benaud 80 run out 60
PBH May not out 38 c Tallon b Miller 54
TG Evans lbw Miller 1 b O’Reilly 30
H Larwood c Lindwall b Miller 7 c O’Reilly b Miller 8
JC Laker b Lindwall 17 c Simpson b Benaud 1
M Tate b Lindwall 0 b Benaud 2
H Verity b O’Reilly 8 not out 0
Extras 6 6
Total 266 327
Lindwall 29-7-57-3 29-3-91-1
Miller 27-10-46-5 29-7-65-3
O’Reilly 29-5-61-1 31-9-97-1
Benaud 25-5-70-1 27-7-66-4
Macartney 10-1-26-0

Australia won by 165 runs

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