When only Bradman’s batting stopped an Indian upset

Seven decades ago, the newly independent nation of India came up against Australia in Test cricket for the first time.

It was the beginning of one of the world’s great sporting rivalries.

Australia won that 1947 Test at the Gabba by an innings and 226 runs. But although the margin indicates a thrashing, India was unlucky. It had come up against two forces of nature: the Brisbane weather and Don Bradman.

Expectations had been low. In ten Test matches against England, stretching back to 1932, India had lost six and drawn four. And it was missing four of its premier players.

Australia, in the process of establishing possibly the greatest team in Test history, was expected to sweep India aside, which it duly did. But the outcome in the first Test might well have been different had India won the toss.

Instead, the coin favoured Bradman and Australia batted first, with rain threatening.

India’s bowlers began well and Australia’s opening pair of Arthur Morris and Bill Brown pushed and groped at the moving ball. Former Australian champion bowler Bill O’Reilly was so impressed with Indian captain Lala Amarnath’s swing and control he wrote in his Sydney Morning Herald column, “I have never seen a better sustained effort in a Test match.”

The Gabba crowd roared when Brown was finally out for a painful 11, scored from 65 balls. In later years Brown would reflect with amusement at how home crowds used to welcomed his dismissal: they had come to see Bradman bat, not him!

And so out came Bradman, aged 39, in his final ever Test innings in Brisbane, the city where it had all begun for him 19 years before. In the previous summer he had averaged 97.1 against England. Even so, it was generally agreed he was not the player he had been prior to the war.

Donald Bradman(PA Images via Getty Images)

Bradman began cautiously, showing the bowling respect. But he soon began to dominate the scoring. The extent of his dominance can be seen in his partnership with Keith Miller.

Miller – known for his aggressive batting – joined Bradman late in the day and the pair put on 75 runs: Miller made six, Bradman 69.

At the end of the day, Australia was 3/273, with Bradman 160 not out. Of 235 runs scored while he was at the crease, all other batsmen combined made just 75. O’Reilly wrote, “The ease with which he took control of the Indian attack, gave further proof, if there were need of any, that he still stands well above any other batsman in the world. He is batting as well as I have ever seen.”

In Sydney’s Sun newspaper, Richard Whitington wrote, “Had it not been for the greatest innings I have ever seen Bradman play, Australia would probably have been all out for under 200 yesterday.”

In modern cricket, a first-day score of 3/273 would put the batting side in a strong, but not impregnable position. But back in 1947/48 pitches were uncovered (at India’s request), and with heavy rain forecast, India was going to have to bat on a ‘sticky’ wicket.

The back-page headline of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph summed up the prevailing opinion: “INDIA NEED MIRACLE”.

They were not to get one.

Rain came in abundance, washing out most of day two. Australia lost wickets slogging early on day three and declared at lunch on 8/382. Bradman had been out quickly for 185, with Miller hitting four sixes on the way to 58.

Up against a great Australian bowling attack – Ray Lindwall, Miller, Bill Johnston and Ernie Toshack – and on a wicket rendered dangerous and nasty by the rain, India was shot out for 58 and 98. To date it is Australia’s biggest ever innings victory over India – indeed Bradman alone scored 29 more runs than India did.

Indian captain Amarnath said, “I don’t think there could have been a greater batsman than Bradman in the world. We came over here to see him and now we have seen him we are quite satisfied,” adding, “Now I hope somebody can advise him not to play in any more Tests.”

Bradman finished the series with 715 runs at an average of 178.8 and Australia won 4-0. Australia was comfortably the better side, but if India had been at full strength and if it had had better luck with the weather the margin of victory might not have been so stark.

Indian players might have felt some consolation when Australia went unbeaten throughout the 1948 tour of England, coming to be known as the ‘Invincibles’.

It was not until two summers ago that India won a Test series in Australia, becoming the first Asian side to do so. If the current team can win again this summer, against an Australian side not weakened by suspensions, it will surely be regarded as the best Indian side ever to tour here.