On 14 August 1948 at The Oval, Don Bradman walked out to bat in his final Test innings needing only four runs to retire with a Test average of exactly 100. Eric Hollies bowled him a leg-break first ball, which Bradman defended; the second was a googly that he failed to read; it slipped between bat and pad and clipped middle and off. The Don had made a duck. The crowd rose to him; the average settled forever at 99.94, the most famous number in cricket.
Bradman had announced before the tour that the 1948 series would be his last. At 40 he had toured England undefeated through 34 matches with the side that became known as The Invincibles. By the morning of his Oval innings he was on a series average of 72.57 with two centuries.
England, batting first on a damp pitch, had been blown away for 52 in 42.1 overs the day before, with Lindwall taking 6/20 in his post-lunch spell. Bradman watched the demolition from the dressing-room balcony. Australia opened on the second morning. Sid Barnes fell first; the gates opened and Bradman walked out to a guard of honour and three cheers from the England team.
Australia, already 4-0 up in the series, were chasing only 52 to win after Ray Lindwall's 6/20 had skittled England on the first day. Bradman, opening the second day at the wicket after Sid Barnes was out for 61, walked through a guard of honour formed by the England side under Norman Yardley. Crowd and players cheered him to the middle.
Hollies, the Warwickshire leg-spinner, had taken 8/107 against the Australians earlier in the season and had studied Bradman's approach to spin. His first ball was a leg-break that pitched on a length; Bradman defended it back down the wicket. The second ball, perfectly disguised, was a googly. Bradman, picking it as the leg-break, played for the turn away from the bat. The ball broke the other way, slipped between bat and pad and bowled him middle stump.
Wisden 1949 recorded the moment with characteristic understatement: 'Bowled Hollies 0. The crowd applauded him to the pavilion as warmly as they would have a century.' Hollies's later quip — 'Best bloody ball I ever bowled, and they're bloody clapping him' — captured the strangeness of the moment. Bradman's career ended with 6,996 Test runs, 29 hundreds in 52 Tests, and an average of 99.94. England were bowled out for 188 in their second innings (Hutton 64); Australia won by an innings and 149 runs.
England all out 52 day one (Lindwall 6/20)
Day two: Sid Barnes c Evans b Hollies 61 (Aus 117/1)
Bradman walks through England guard of honour
First ball: Hollies leg-break, defended by Bradman
Second ball: googly, perfectly disguised
Bradman plays for leg-break; ball slips between bat and pad
Bowled middle and off stumps for 0
Test average settles at 99.94 — four runs short of 100
14 Aug 1948
England 52 a.o. day one (Lindwall 6/20)
15 Aug 1948 morning
Sid Barnes c Evans b Hollies 61
15 Aug 1948
Bradman walks out through England guard of honour
15 Aug 1948
Defends first ball; bowled second ball by Hollies googly for 0
18 Aug 1948
Australia win by an innings and 149 runs
1 Jan 1949
Bradman knighted in New Year Honours
“Bowled Hollies 0. The crowd applauded him to the pavilion as warmly as they would have a century.”
“It looked to me as though he had decided it was a leg-break, and that he would let the ball turn away from him. However, it was the googly, and the ball turned in just enough to pass the edge of his bat and hit the middle and off stumps.”
“I dare say that for a brief moment my eyes were a little misty.”
Australia won the Test by an innings and 149 runs, completing a 4-0 series win. Bradman did not bat again. He played five further first-class matches on the tour and finished the Invincibles trip with the side undefeated in 34 first-class fixtures.
He retired in 1949 having scored 28,067 first-class runs at 95.14 with 117 hundreds. He was knighted in the 1949 New Year Honours.
The most famous duck in sport. The two-run gap between 99.94 and the round 100 has become the single most quoted number in cricket — proof, somehow, that even Bradman was human.
The number 99.94 is now a cultural reference point in Australia: the postcode of the Bradman Museum at Bowral is 2576 but its phone number once ended in 9994; Australian Bureau of Statistics releases have used the number as a reference for batting averages; the ABC's Sydney address is 700 Harris Street but its switchboard once routed through 99.94 as a tribute. Hollies's spell in retirement was always defined by 'the ball that bowled Bradman'.
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.