Happy birthday Don

If he had lived, the greatest cricketer of all time, Sir “Don” Bradman of Australia would have celebrated his 107th birthday today.

On August 27, 1908, Australia’s sporting idol was born at Cootamundra, New South Wales to George and Emily Bradman.

When Sir Donald George "Don" Bradman was around two-and-a-half years old, his parents moved to Bowral, from where the batting great would begin to smash records, one after another.

Even before his 2nd birthday during the Great Depression , Sir Don’s meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team saw many records set for scoring, some of which still stands today.

Over the span of a 20-year playing career, Bradman racked up scores at a consistent rate never before or since seen in Test cricket.

His Test batting average of 99.94 is regularly cited as the supreme accomplishment by any sportsman in any major sport.

More than 50 years after his retirement as a Test cricketer, Sir Don was anointed as the ‘greatest living Australian’ by then Prime Minister John Howard of Australia in 2001.

On the historic moment of the Bradman’s 107th birthday, entertain yourselves with some fascinating facts about the ultimate batting superstar of Test cricket.

Bradman’s immaculate timing ball after ball is attributed to his early days, when he learnt to bat at home by striking a golf ball with a bat against a water tank stand for hours.

At school, Sir Don’s favourite subject was mathematics.

The Dahlia flower has a variety named after Sir Don Bradman.

Bradman had a knack for music. He composed and recorded a song called 'Every day is a rainbow day for me' in the year 1930.

He could play the piano quite well, and he recorded two songs titled ''An old fashioned lockett' and 'Our bungalow of dreams' as well.

Bradman needed only four runs in this last innings to achieve an astounding batting average of 100, but got out for a duck to the disappointment of the spectators at the stadium.

To honour Sir Don’s incredible Test average of 99.94, ABC’s postal address in all the capitals of the state territory is PO Box 9994.

The cricketing legend was never sent back to the pavilion when he was batting in the 90s.

In 1948, Kathiawar, a regional team of India, abandoned an ongoing match against Maharashtra when the latter's batsman Bhausahibe Nimbalkar, was batting on 443. This is because they believed it would not be courteous for the batsmen to overtake Bradman's first-class individual record of 452 runs.

Bradman received the Knighthood in 1949, for his immense contribution to the game of cricket.

When South African icon Nelson Mandela came out of prison after 27 years, the first words he spoke was, 'Is Don Bradman still alive?'