Sir Don Bradman: The Great and Crafty

Have you ever heard about Sir Don Bradman? If you have, then no worries, my readers, but if you haven't heard about him, then read this full blog.

His actual name was Donald Bradman but in his playing days he was known as simply 'Don'. He played his game with skill, passion and always liked defying the opposing bowlers. Every single bowler found it tough to make him out because he picked up lines and lengths very quickly. Every bowler toiled in front of him and at last he would break the confidence, making them put loose deliveries.

Now, from all the bowlers who bowled to him, only some of them have lived to tell the tale of bowling to him. In Australian folklore, it is said that having a part of the stump as a bat and a golf ball as a ball for practicing, he became a very tough batsman to bowl to as it is said that hitting a golf ball with one cricket stump was very tough and a lot of concentration was needed for that. Many said that in his 20 year career he was equal to three Australian batsman's strength and skill. The infamous 'Bodyline' tactic was also made for him and his team, but, because of his attacking style of play, he drew many spectators.

This created a problem. He however, did not like lot of praise, and this created many problems in his team. Due to his attention to his individual performances, his relationships was shaken with others like his teammates and coaches.

After this, there was a big gap that was imposed due to the 2nd World War, but after it was over, he and his team made a very dramatic and historic comeback, which made the Australians to be known as 'The Invincibles'.

He was very young when he started playing cricket. He was 9. He scored his first ever century at the age of 12. The cricket stump and golf ball practice really helped him a lot as it improved his skills of quick reactions to fast balls that are swinging or moving. 

In his first class career, he had scored a very aggressive and record-breaking score at the Sydney Cricket Ground(SCG) and that too against a strong domestic team of Queensland. 

The Bodyline theory was introduced after a his record-breaking tour of England in 1930 and the South African tour as many commentators and players, especially English players, had noticed his weakness to it. In my opinion, if this theory was not there, then lot of injured players wouldn't have been there. Bradman survived the tactics with ease, but some in his team were injured severely. Douglas Jardine introduced it, which is why he is infamous for this tactic. 

In the Bodyline tour of England, he was bowled for a famous duck by Bowes. He got out by dragging a short ball onto the stumps while trying to swivel-pull the ball. This was famous, and I am sure Bradman regretted that.

One phase of his career was dark, just like what happens to other batsmen nowadays. In one part of his career, he averaged less than 18 in 5 matches! Kohli and Dhoni are two batsmen whom I have known to have an average less than or just a little more than that. 

He took his wife on a honeymoon, and listen, it was a tour to West Indies for the Australian team. Strange, isn't it? Never do that to your new wife. Take her on a proper honeymoon.

During the last phase of his career, he had abdominal pain and was operated. This was an intense moment for him. He lost a lot of blood, but didn't lose hope. He slowly recovered after this.

The "Invincible" team's captain had troubled war years. He was diagnosed with a disease, which makes you have pain in particular places on the body.

This is a shortened summary of the life of a great batsman, who now is a curiosity to young batsman. He was great, he is great and he will be great forever. I give my salutations to the greatest batsman of all time who has made a name for himself in history books with the average scoring rate of 99.94

Everyone's cricket knowledge giver,

Uthkarsh V 

The Origin of bowling in cricket

 Have you heard about bowling in cricket? It is a little bit related to the bowling. So in the game bowling there is a big boulder type of ball that is used to take out some things by rolling it and those things are called ins. They are big. Don’t think it to be small. Here the ball is rolled under the arm but in cricket, while bowling, people bowl over the arm (I hope you understandJ). So this term actually originated in France. I actually came across this in a book written by Bob Woolmer. So, before this overarm style came, there was the underarm style only used until someone got this overarm bowling and it really works. It gives you something called pace and swing. Pace is the amount of speed the seam creates. Swing is the seam position and the way it moves, in or out. So, if you come across some wicket taking deliveries, you’ll see the amount of power that is put on the ball to create pace and swing. You’ll see only two fingers being used by them as two fingers itself can create a lot of pace and swing. That is the theory. The people who bowl with this are called pace bowlers or swing bowlers. You can also spin the ball. Spin is a type of bowling where people bowl with two or three fingers. The top of the fingers are only on the seam. The other part is on the shiny and smooth side of a leather ball. There are two types of spinners, leg spinners and off spinners. Leg spinners, or leggies, are extraordinary bowlers who bowl with three fingers and can destroy any batting line-up with variety of deliveries like googlies, leg-breaks, flippers, top-spinners etc. They can be really destructive, and I am warning all readers who are reading this blog and who play cricket, be careful of leg-spinners as tackling them can be tough at times when they have put you on the back-foot. They can extract turn from any pitch. Next are off-spinners. There is no danger to any batsman because they can’t have any deviation of green pitches until they are very good in this art. Off-spinners like Muralitharan and Ashwin are people who can extract turn from any pitch. They have variations like a doosra or a top-spinner. There is no harm in becoming an off-spinner but people usually have to use thie fingers a lot and that can hurt your hand and create holes in your hand. So, now that I have told you about over-arm bowling, I will tell you about sling bowlers. Sling bowler are bowlers who throw the bowl in a sling type way. It was first excelled in by Jeff Thomson and Shoaib Akhtar. Then many followed. This was allowed by the MCC when cricket came into use.

I will now tell you about the rules of bowling in cricket. So, literally, if you can guess some rules like slinging and overarm is allowed but underarm is not, and ball tampering is not allowed, then it means that you are a good deduction masterJ. Now you would be thinking when and where ball tampering has occurred. Well, I will narrate you an incident. In the morning of a test match, it is usually a good atmosphere, but in the Cape town stadium, South Africa, it was the opposite in the year 2018 in December. Cameron Bancroft, a cricketer, was found guilty by the umpires of using sandpaper on a ball to shine it. The great Steve Smith and the destructive batsman David Warner were also involved. So, Smith and Warner were banned for a year, and Bancroft for six months. This incident stunned the cricketing world. No one thought that the mighty Australians who were to-be legends would be involved in this infamous scandal. Well, even great celebrities can sometimes turn out be bad also by exposing their bad side.

Line and length is also needed. The father(means the master) of line and length is Glenn Mcgrath, is what my uncle says and I think it is true. He has variety of deliveries which can deceive any batsman and he loved playing against England at Lord’s, the home of cricket and its traditions followed.

Rules are many, but limits are more than rules. “The power of limit is greater than that of rules”. This defines what is the difference between rule and limits. Bowling fast can be really expensive and you can be hit for huge sixes in limited overs. In ODIs maybe it will work, but in T20s, you need variations like the slower ball, Off and leg cutter, knuckle ball etc. So better keep all this in mind. This will be really informative to all bowlers and youngsters who want themselves to become renowned international bowlers. Keep this information, and see, my readers, how people succeed.