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The 'Unassailable' Don

AFP, Sydney
Australians on Wednesday marked the centenary of their greatest sporting hero, cricketer Don Bradman, by celebrating the fact his unbeaten record is still untouchable 60 years after he quit the sport
Bradman, who died in 2001 aged 92, played his last match in England in 1948 and retired with a yet-to-be topped Test batting average of99.94.
Australian media used the occasion to revisit the legend of the "Boy from Bowral" whose run-scoring feats lifted the hopes of the country during the Depression and inspired generations of atliletes to come
Newspapers splashed images of the small-statured batsman across their pages while television bulletins re-broadcast rare snippets from interviews with "The Don", who loathed his celebrity.
In Bradman's boyhood home of Bowral, a small (own sou(h of Sydney, scores of children formed a massive 100 on die cricket oval on which he first played, and sang "Happy Birthday."
Australian captain Ricky Ponting led tributes to the global cricketing hero.
"That Bradman made a century on average every time he batted is remarkable in itself, but to realise his batting average is virtually twice as high as anyone who played Test cricket for any length of time shows why he is one of sport's great stories," Pontingwrote in theAustralian.
Ponting said sporting records were made to be broken, with the
Beijing Olympics no exception with the breathtaking feats of swimmer Michael Phelps and runner Usain Bolt. But Bradman's was an "unassailable” record, he said
“Of the 2,519 batsmen who have taken the crease in 131 years ofTest cricket, Bradman stands alone and untouched," he said. “I am no aware of any other sport which has one competitor so far above any other performer."
Bradman is a massive figure in Australian culture. Former prime minister Bob Hawke wroteof having two gods, ids father and Bradman.
The postal address for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in every capital city is his average, PO Box 999L
The centenary was the first order of business in Question Time at the national parliament Wednesday, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd praising the remarkable bat ting average of the man.
"No one has even come close to this, I suspect no one else ever will," Rudd said.
Bradman, who was born in the New South Wales country town of Cootamundra on August 27, 1908, first played cricket for Bowral after famously honing his ability by hitting a golf ball against a water tank with a cricket stump.
He made his first-class debut at 19 and by 21 was playing in his first Test series against England, dunng which he became the youngest overseas batsman to score a double century in that country, making 236 runs in his first match.
By the third Test of the 1930 series he broke the world Test battingrecord with 334.
"He soon became not just
Donald Bradman but 'The Don',’ Rudd said. "In the tough years of the Depression, he was a hero at home and a great source of national pride in difficult times ’
Bradman's prodigious runscoring ability saw England's fast bowlers target him during the 1932-33 "Bodyline’ series, keeping him down to an average of 56.57 runs per innings.
But after World War II, Bradman led the Australian eleven who became known as the Invincibles for their undefeated 1948 tour of England — during which they won 17 matches by an innings and four of the five Tests easily.
Mike Rann, the premier of South Australia state, where Bradman lived in the latter part of his life, described the cricketer as Australia's "Superman.*
"He is our Clark Kent, the mild-mannered ordinary man who contains and conceals immeasurable powers, is always there when needed and always delivers the goods but with nobility of purpose,” he said.
Former Invincible' Arthur Morris, 86, who shared the crease with Bradman when the skipper made his final appearance in 1948, described him as 'something to watch. Not only a great batsman but a marvellous fieldsman too "
But on this final occasion, Bradman made no score. Had he scored just four runs, his batting average would have climbed to 100.
Describing the moment, Morris told ABC radio: "He just did what he did. When he got bowled, he just walked, put the bat under his arms and strode out, just as if he'd got 200 or 300. He was always wonderful that way.’