22 yards

Don Bradman, 270 vs England, Ashes 3rd Test (1937)

This particular match will go down in the annals of test cricket as one of the most tactical ones of all time. Don Bradman had newly been appointed captain of the Australian team and it seemed to have affected his batting. To give some preface to this match Australia were 2-0 down in the series, losing the first one by 322 runs and the second one by an innings and 22 runs. Bradman had scored two ducks in the previous two tests. Twice had the entire team of Australia been bowled out for a score in the 80s. Voce and Verity were tearing apart the Australian batsmen. Bradman's captaincy and support from the team was being questioned by everyone. In the face of it all Australia started the third test match in a do or die situation. Over 350000 people came in to watch over 5 days which is a record attendance figure to this date.

Australia won the toss and Bradman chose to bat in what were decent batting conditions. But the English bowlers were in relentless form and reduced Australia to 181/6 with Bradman scoring a mere 13 runs. Then it started to rain heavily and play ended for the first day. The second day wet pitch was a torture to bat on. Bradman let the tail wag for 30 minutes and then declared at 200/9 so that the bowlers could take a crack at the English batsmen in the best conditions. England struggled on the wild pitch that many described as the worst they had ever seen. They faltered along to 76/7 when Don Bradman unleashed his first tactical move. He asked his bowlers to not get the batsmen out so fast since that meant they had to face the English bowlers. The next day was a Sunday and a rest day so there was time for the pitch to ease out till Monday.

Bradman was discreet about his motive. He did not want his opposite number Allen to know what he was doing lest he'd declare and send the Aussies in. The English bowlers were confident that no Australian batsman could last more than 10 minutes on that pitch and therefore England finally declared at 76/9 a huge 124 runs short.

Bradman then resorted to wasting a bit of time before he unleashed his second tactical move. He reversed his batting order and sent the tailenders in to bat first. On that pitch your batting skills didn't really matter. You just had to stick in there and leave as many balls as possible. At the end of day 2 Australia had only lost one wicket.

On day 3 the pitch was much better but the English bowlers still posed a huge threat. After sending in more sacrificial batsmen Australia had been reduced to 102/5 and that was when Bradman walked in. Coming in at no 7 he din't have too many partners to bat with, had to face a hungry English bowling attack and the ire of the media which had started calling him a coward for hiding behind tailenders. It also din't help that it kept raining time and again which meant that he had to bat on a wet wicket that he wanted to avoid in the first place. He fell sick too and was down with influenza. Yet he labored on on with inhuman precision and went on to score 270 batting for a total of 7 hours and 38 minutes which was his longest innings. That score essentially pushed England out of the contest and Australia won that test by 365 runs. Such was the effect of that innings that it buoyed the Australians and they went on to win the series 3-2. Bradman scored 212 in the 4th test and 169 in the 5th. This has been the only instance in history where a team that was 2-0 down in a 5 match series went on to win it.