On a wet New Year's Day pitch at the MCG in 1937, with Australia 0-2 down in the series, Don Bradman batted himself at No. 7, sent his tail in first to absorb the sticky, and then made 270 over almost eight hours. It is the highest score made on a sticky wicket in Test cricket, the innings that turned the 1936-37 Ashes, and the one Wisden in 2001 voted the greatest Test innings of the 20th century.
Australia were 0-2 down. Bradman's first two Tests as captain had been losses on rain-affected pitches. The third Test at Melbourne was the last chance to keep the series alive.
A heavy storm on New Year's Eve left the MCG pitch wet. Bradman, at the toss, chose to bat — a counter-intuitive call given his side's recent struggles on stickies, but justified by his plan to reorder the batting.
A New Year's Eve thunderstorm soaked the MCG pitch. Bradman won the toss on the morning of 1 January 1937 and batted; both captains expected the wicket to remain dangerously sticky for one or two sessions before drying. Australia lost three quick wickets — Fingleton, Brown and McCabe — for 17. Bradman, watching from the rooms, decided to reverse his order: O'Reilly went in at four, Sievers at five, Ward at six, and Bradman did not appear until 130 for 5 the following morning, after the worst of the surface had passed.
When he came in the pitch was still misbehaving but no longer treacherous. Bradman batted with Jack Fingleton, who had returned to score 136. Their sixth-wicket stand was 346, then a record. Bradman made 270 in 458 minutes from 375 balls, with 22 fours. England, set 689 for victory after Australia's 564 and a follow-on, had no chance; Australia won by 365 runs.
The captaincy decision — to bat himself at No. 7 — drew murmuring at the time, but the result silenced it. The innings is the textbook study in reading a sticky pitch, and is part of the trilogy (with 254 at Lord's 1930 and 334 at Headingley 1930) on which Bradman's 'great innings' reputation rests.
New Year's Eve storm; pitch wet on day one.
Australia 3/17; Bradman holds himself back.
Tail-enders absorb the worst of the sticky.
Bradman in at 130/5 the next morning on a drier surface.
346 sixth-wicket stand with Fingleton (136).
Bradman 270 in 458 minutes, 22 fours.
Australia 564; England follow on; Australia win by 365.
31 Dec 1936
Storm hits Melbourne.
1 Jan 1937
Bradman wins toss, bats; Australia 3/17.
1 Jan, late
Tail absorbs sticky; Australia 5/130 stumps.
2 Jan
Bradman in; partnership with Fingleton begins.
4 Jan
Bradman out 270; Australia 564.
7 Jan
Australia win by 365; series 1-2.
“The greatest Test innings of the twentieth century.”
“He outthought us, and then he out-batted us.”
Bradman's most cerebral big innings — a double century played on a treacherous surface, with a captain's tactical reorder built into the scorebook.
Wisden's 2001 panel ranked Bradman's 270 the greatest Test innings of the 20th century, ahead of Botham's 149* at Headingley 1981 and Lara's 153* at Bridgetown 1999. The MCG honours its highest scorer with a permanent display board featuring the 270.
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.