On 30 November 1928 the 20-year-old Don Bradman made his Test debut against England at the Exhibition Ground in Brisbane. He scored 18 and 1 as Australia were beaten by 675 runs — the largest defeat in Test history at the time — and was dropped for the next Test before returning to begin a career that would average 99.94.
Bradman had been signed to play for the South Sydney club at 18, then promoted to NSW at 19 and to the Australian Test side at 20. The selectors took a calculated risk on his Sheffield Shield form, but the conventional wisdom in 1928 was that he was a small, unconventional batsman whose technique might not stand up to Larwood's pace.
Bradman had played for New South Wales since 1927-28, finishing his first season with 1,690 first-class runs. Selected for the first Test of the 1928-29 Ashes at Brisbane's Exhibition Ground (the MCG was being prepared for the second Test), he batted at six, came in at 71 for 4, and was caught at slip off Maurice Tate for 18. England, captained by Percy Chapman, had made 521 — Hammond 44, Hendren 169 — and bowled Australia out for 122.
Bradman, demoted to seven in the second innings, made just 1 before being caught off Larwood. Australia were bowled out for 66; England won by an innings and 675 runs (the actual margin was 675 runs after Australia's two-innings deficit), the largest victory in Test history at that point. Bradman was dropped for the second Test at Sydney, the only Test of his career he was not selected for.
He returned for the third Test at Melbourne and made 79 and 112 — his first Test hundred. He went on to score 468 runs in seven innings during the rest of the series. England won the Ashes 4-1, but Bradman's 1928-29 series figures (468 runs at 66.85 in the four Tests he played) announced the man who would, in 1930, score 974 runs in five Tests in England.
Bradman selected for Brisbane Test at age 20
First innings: caught off Tate for 18
Second innings: caught off Larwood for 1
England win by 675 runs — record Test margin
Bradman dropped for the second Test, the only such omission of his career
30 Nov 1928
Bradman makes Test debut at Brisbane
1 Dec 1928
Out for 18 in first innings
5 Dec 1928
Out for 1 in second innings; Australia lose by 675 runs
Dec 1928
Bradman dropped for second Test at Sydney
Dec 1928 / Jan 1929
Recalled for third Test, Melbourne; makes 79 and 112
“I had been keyed up beyond endurance and the dropping was the best thing that ever happened to me. It taught me to think about my game.”
Brisbane November 1928 was simultaneously the worst defeat in Australian Test history to that point and the debut of the man who would become the greatest batsman the game has known.
Bradman's debut innings of 18 and 1 became famous in retrospect as the only Test in his career in which he failed twice and was dropped. He went on to play 52 Tests, score 6,996 runs at 99.94 (still the highest in Test history), and to be widely accepted as the greatest cricketer of all time.
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.