The Story Of The Most Famous Duck Scored In Test Cricket History.

The fifth Test at the Oval in 1948, was to be Don Bradman’s final hurrah in Test cricket after a twenty year career that was interrupted by WWII
Bradman came in late on the first day of the Test after the fall of Sid Barnes wicket with Australia 1/117 chasing England’s dismal total of 52, there lowest Test score in England to that time.
Earlier Ray Lindwall with 6/28 and Keith Miller with 2/5 had run through the opposition batting lineup like a spicy Indian curry after England captain Norman Yardley had won the toss and elected to bat.
On his arrival to the crease Bradman was treated by three cheers from the English team in recognition of his final appearance.
Leg-spinner Eric Hollies first ball to Bradman was pushed gently to the offside, however, Hollies second delivery was a googly which caught the inside edge of the Don’s blade dislodging the great man’s bails.
This momentous dismissal left Bradman only four runs short of averaging 100 runs per innings in Tests, leaving him on 99.94, a number that is now revered in world sports history.
Many years later in an interview Neil Harvey, who was nineteen-years-old at the time and playing in just his second Test match, shed some light on what the players thought about Bradman being left short of the magical milestone,
“Nobody had a clue. The press didn’t know. There was no television, of course. And if the press didn’t know, nobody’s going to know. So that’s how it was. We just played the game as a normal session.”
Bradman didn’t bat again as Australia went on to win the Test by an innings, with his duck overshadowing opener Arthur Morris’ 196 on a wicket that all batsmen found difficult to score on.
In honour of Bradman’s final Test average, Australia’s national broadcaster the ABC’s mailbox number in every capital city is 9994.