Sporting Bygones: Bradman signs off in perfect style at Scarborough in county which took him to its heart

SIXTY-five years ago this summer, Don Bradman played his last match in England.

The venue was Scarborough’s North Marine Road and ‘The Don’ signed off with 153, his innings for the Australian tourists against HDG Leveson-Gower’s XI helping them to an historic draw.

It was the first time a team had gone through an entire tour of England without losing, the Australians’ achievement of avoiding defeat in their 31st first-class game of that 1948 summer earning them the nickname ‘The Invincibles’.

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The term might well have applied to Bradman himself, the greatest batsman cricket has known, and his century sealed with a kiss his remarkable love affair with Yorkshire.

Not only was it Bradman’s second successive hundred at Scarborough, where his previous two innings had been 96 and 132 in the corresponding fixtures in 1930 and 1934, but it followed a string of phenomenal performances at Headingley, where he achieved his finest record at any Test venue.

Bradman scored 963 runs in his six innings at Leeds – 334, 304, 103, 16, 33 and 173 not out.

It was why, as he signed off at Scarborough in 1948, Yorkshire conferred on him honorary life membership, with the great man presented with a silver salver by Yorkshire president TL Taylor.

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As the cheers of a 14,000 crowd rang in his ears, Bradman delivered this heartfelt response. “I shall never cherish any memory more than the reception in Leeds,” said Bradman, referring to his final appearance at Headingley earlier that year.

“Not only was it the greatest I have ever received in this country, but also the greatest I have ever received from any public anywhere in the world.”

The applause that greeted Bradman’s words was as resounding as his final innings at the seaside. In the game at Scarborough, played on September 8, 9 and 10, 1948, he showed for one last time the style that earned him his place in the pantheon.

The match took place two weeks after his 40th birthday, but his preternatural powers remained in evidence.

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The HDG Leveson-Gower XI, which played annually against touring teams at North Marine Road, comprised a number of Test players.

It was not quite as strong as it might have been in 1948, after Bradman asked Leveson-Gower to restrict his team to no more than six England players to prevent the fixture from becoming a sixth Test, but it still featured such luminaries as Yorkshire’s Len Hutton and Norman Yardley.

The Leveson-Gower XI, led by Walter Robins, won the toss and chose to bat.

Hutton was bowled for a duck by Ray Lindwall and Bill Edrich bowled for 15 by Bill Johnston.

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Laurie Fishlock and Martin Donnelly repaired the damage, adding 69 for the third wicket before rain intervened. No more play was possible on the opening day as the festival side closed on 94-2.

The second day brought a clatter of wickets followed by Australian batting dominance.

Fishlock and Donnelly failed to add to their overnight scores of 38 and 36, respectively, and although Yardley made 34 and Alec Bedser 23, Leveson-Gower’s XI were dismissed for 177, Lindwall taking 6-59.

In reply, the tourists reached 140-1 at stumps, Arthur Morris the man out for 62, bowled by Yardley, with Sid Barnes unbeaten on 47 and Bradman undefeated on 30.

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Bradman had scored his runs at quite a lick, having come to the crease 36 minutes before stumps on a pitch taking spin.

With avoidance of defeat their primary objective, as they sought to secure their unbeaten record, the Australians advanced sensibly on the final morning, Bradman reaching his hundred shortly before lunch, his 11th of the tour.

The second-wicket pair added 225, Bradman finally caught in the covers by Hutton off a wild slash off Bedser and Barnes dismissed for 151, caught by Yardley off Surrey’s Yorkshire-born off-spinner Jim Laker.

The tourists went on to 489-8, a lead of 312, before Bradman declared.

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HDG Leveson-Gower’s XI reached 75-2 by the end of the match, Hutton top-scoring with 27 and Bradman bowling the final over, which cost two runs.

So ended Bradman’s playing career in England – if not quite his first-class career full stop.

‘The Don’ played three more games in Australia the following winter, finishing with a grand total of 28,067 runs at 95.14.

Included in that were remarkable Test figures of 6,996 runs at 99.94, with 29 hundreds in 52 matches.

Bradman would have averaged 100 but for a googly from Eric Hollies, which bowled him for a second-ball duck in his final Test innings at The Oval some three weeks before his Scarborough farewell.