On 15 November 1947 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Don Bradman became the first Australian — and the first non-Englishman — to make 100 first-class centuries. He reached the milestone with a single off the off-spin of Gogumal Kishenchand, a player Lala Amarnath had brought on for that very over despite Kishenchand having bowled barely an over all tour. Bradman went on to 172 in 177 minutes; he would finish his first-class career with 117 hundreds, a figure no Australian has approached since.
Bradman's pre-war first-class hundreds had come at unprecedented frequency — one every 4.4 innings — but war and fibrositis had paused him at 99 from late 1940. By November 1947 he had played a few innings short of fifty since his return.
Australia's selectors were watching this match closely; Bradman had publicly admitted his back might not stand five Tests. A hundred would settle his Test place for the season.
An Australian XI led by Bradman hosted Lala Amarnath's Indian tourists in the warm-up to the post-war Test series. Bradman, on 99 first-class hundreds going in, was watched by an SCG crowd that knew exactly what was at stake.
With the score on 99 and the last over before tea, Amarnath — recognising the moment — walked across to Kishenchand and tossed him the ball. Kishenchand, primarily a batsman, had not bowled all tour. Bradman pushed his second ball gently into the leg side for a single, raised his bat to a standing ovation and was congratulated by the Indian fielders before tea was taken.
He went on to 172 in 177 minutes (18 fours, one six) before being bowled by Hazare. The hundred was his only one of the warm-up matches and a sign that he meant to play the Test series, not just appear in it.
14 Nov 1947 — match begins, India bat first
15 Nov, before tea — Bradman moves to 99
Amarnath gives the ball to Kishenchand
Bradman pushes a single to bring up his 100th first-class hundred
Bradman 172 b Hazare
An Australian XI win by an innings
14 Nov 1947
Match begins, SCG
15 Nov 1947
Bradman scores 100th first-class century
1948-49
Career ends with 117 hundreds
“It was Lala's idea — he wanted Kishen to have the honour of bowling the ball.”
The hundred locked in Bradman's Test selection and lifted the gloom that had hung over his comeback. He went on to score 715 runs at 178.75 in the four-Test series.
A milestone unique in Australian cricket history. Bradman remains, more than 75 years on, the only Australian to score 100 first-class hundreds, and his graciousness toward Kishenchand and Amarnath has often been retold as an example of cricket's manners surviving the war.
Bradman's 100th hundred stands at the top of an exclusive list — only one Australian (Bradman) features among the 25-plus members of the 100-hundreds club. The Kishenchand cameo, replayed in countless documentaries, became a small symbol of the courtesy with which the first Indian tour of Australia was conducted.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.