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Don Bradman caught by Joe Burns’ great-uncle Harold

Don Bradman entertained the crowd to the fullest, first with ball before cutting loose with bat in hand. His innings ended when he was caught by the great-uncle of a future Test cricketer.

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Don Bradman Cairns 1932 33 Harold Burns
Left: Don Bradman, who scored 193 runs and took 10 wickets © Getty Images
Right: The Cairns team that won the Advanx Shield in 1932-33 (courtesy: Ben Vikionkorpi)
Back, from left: J Woods, C Holden, H Horwood, H Tracey
Middle, from left: L McKiliop, G Williams, W Toll (umpire), Harold Burns (c), WF Stanley (umpire), L McMahon, A Olson
Front, from left: W Kerby, H Hooper

March 28, 1931. Alan Kippax led a formidable team to Cairns to play the locals at Parramatta Park. Barring Kippax, the star-studded list included the likes of Stan McCabe, Alan Fairfax, Archie Jackson, Keith Rigg, Hal Hooker, and the biggest of them all — Don Bradman, already established as the greatest contemporary batsmen. Bradman entertained the crowd to the fullest, first with ball before cutting loose with bat in hand. His innings ended when he was caught by the great-uncle of a future Test cricketer. Abhishek Mukherjee narrates.

1931. The urn had been regained. Bodyline was being conceived somewhere in England. After that incredible summer of 1930 the cricket fraternity had hailed Don Bradman as the greatest contemporary batsman. He was the hero of the Australians in an era when the gloom of The Great Depression hung over the entire nation. They sought solace in Bradmans performances, his domination of The Mother Country.

Cairns would be used in World War II by The Allies as a staging base for operations in The Pacific, but that lay in the future. Four years before the date in question, Cairns had been ripped apart by Cyclone Willis. The city was clawing its way back.

It was under these circumstances that a team from New South Wales was invited to play several smaller teams in Queensland. Cairns’ turn came after Malanda.

Alan Kippax led the team. Accompanying him would be Stan McCabe, who would play three of the most outrageous innings in history; the elegant Keith Rigg, who had made his Test debut a month ago, against West Indies at Sydney Cricket Ground; and Alan Fairfax, that champion all-rounder who played a crucial role in regaining the urn.

There was Hal Hooker, the first (and till date, only) bowler to take four wickets in four balls in a Sheffield Shield match but is remembered for his historic last-wicket stand with Kippax.

There was also Archie Jackson, not yet cursed by tuberculosis. Some considered him more talented than Bradman. They hailed Jackson as the successor of the stylish, aggressive Kippax, who had, in turn, inherited the same school of batsmanship from Victor Trumper.

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Towering above them all was, however, Bradman.

The tourists, all 12 of them from New South Wales, went by the name Alan Kippax XI. There was a gala dance for the visitors the night before. The match was scheduled on a “public holiday” at Parramatta Park.

The hosts announced their XI as well, along with an ‘emergency batsman’ (Williams) and an ‘emergency bowler’ (R Blackmore). The side also included one Harold Vincent Burns, but more on him later.

The Bradman Super Bowl

When Hooker started proceedings at 11.30 in front of 3,000 men, the visitors probably expected an encore of his four-in-four from 1928. While that did not happen, Hooker clean bowled T Carr for nought with an in-swinger in the third over.

Both J Lynam and T McCoombe responded by pulling Hooker and McCabe for fours. McCabe gave way to Fairfax after sending down 4 overs. Lynam steered McCabe through slips; his eyes kept following the route of the ball, and he must have received the shock of his life when he found McCoombe next to him.

Both Lynam and H Horwood, the new man, counterattacked, pulling Fairfax with glee. The star all-rounder then pitched one up, catching Lynam on the crease, and hit timber.

Burns walked out, and almost immediately, at 12.20, rain halted any play till lunch.

A wicketkeeper, Burns had had an outing for Queensland Colts earlier that summer, scoring a crucial 46. He had made his Shield (and First-Class) debut a week after that, but it was an unsuccessful one. He had not played a major match since then.

Horwood batted aggressively after lunch, especially against Frank Conway, preferring the leg-side. Burns was off to a shaky start. When on 11 Burns tried to loft Conway on the leg-side, and though Bradman got both hands to it, the great man grassed the chance.

Three balls later Burns tried to loft Conway over his head. The bowler got a hand to it but could not hold on. A run later Burns pulled Conway, and this time McCabe dropped him just inside the ropes.

Meanwhile, Horwood hit out against William Ives, reaching his fifty in 35 minutes. Cairns brought up their 100 in 80 minutes. Runs came quickly as the crowd cheered on, more so when Bradman came on to bowl his leg-breaks. The score read 134 for 3.

It happened in a flash. Bradman bowled one short. Burns pulled ferociously in the direction of Rigg at ‘forward leg’. To quote Cairns Post, Rigg “intercepted it almost before the crowd realised that it had been hit.” Burns had scored 23.

A Austin hit one back to Bradman before another run was scored. And poor R Gelling was bowled first ball “by a top spinner that came straight through to the leg peg.”

C Horsfall made sure there was no hat-trick, but Kippax, sensing a breakthrough, brought Hooker back. Almost immediately Horwood went for a heave across the line, missed, and was trapped leg-before for a chanceless 70.

Albert Olson followed for a golden duck. S Carvolth was caught in the deep off Bradman. From 134 for 3, Cairns had lost 6 wickets for 3 runs. G Kiernan hit Bradman for a six (he must have been one of very few cricketers to have achieved this), and at the other end Horsfall prevented a hat-trick for the second time in the day.

Cairns were bowled out for 148 immediately after Conway replaced Hooker. Hooker had 3 for 27, but Bradman, as very often, stole the show with 4 for 13. The figures were 4 for 3 at one stage.

The Bradman onslaught

Cairns had a history in cricket. One Lorry Quinlan had scored an 18-minute hundred back here in 1910. It is not known whether Jackson or Bradman was aware of the feat, but they certainly gave the feeling they did.

Jackson and Rigg walked out. Horwood and Horsfall shared the new ball. The pair added 29 in the sedate build-up to tea.

By the time Rigg fell the pair had added 73 in an hour and were looking to accelerate. Rigg fell to Olson’s leg-breaks, edging one while going for an almighty heave; the ball flew off Burns’ big gloves to Carr at first slip.

Bradman walked out amidst huge cheer. The field spread out, as if on cue. The first ball from Olson — nervous, presumably — was a full-toss. Bradman merely pushed for a single.

The first boundary came from a square-cut. Then he exploded, “hitting low and with power”. The first 15 minutes witnessed 5 boundaries from him as the visitors raced to 100 for 1.

Jackson lofted one to fine-leg, and a running effort from Horwood went in vain. It might have been this incident that Jackson toned down a bit, letting Bradman take centrestage (though it would not have mattered to Bradman anyway).

Jackson’s fifty came in 80 minutes. When Carr was replaced, Bradman forgot all restraint and lofted Austin over square-leg to an adjacent garden. His fifty came up in 28 minutes with that stroke — his first lofted shot. Two minutes later he overtook Jackson.

Olson continued with his leg-breaks, and Bradman — more adventurous than ruthless, for a change — lofted him into the stands over cover.

Bowling from opposite the Pavilion End, Horwood bowled a full-toss. Bradman hit it high, very high, straight on the roof of a house facing the grandstand, bringing the crowd into raptures.

Caught and stumped Burns 

Bradman raced to 90 in 45 minutes, but alas, he was not destined for greater glory that day. He stepped out to that man Olson, and Burns took the catch. In his excitement Burns also whipped the bails off and appealed to both umpires in succession. Both men ruled Bradman out, W Toll for caught-behind, and Malcolm for stumping. Of course, the former verdict stayed.

“Hardly two strokes were alike and he seemed bent on showing the crowd as wide a variety of strokes as possible,” commented Cairns Post on the mini-classic.

The score read 206, which meant that the pair had added 133 in 45 minutes, Bradman having scored 90 of these. Stumps were taken at 243 for 2 with Jackson on 92 and Kippax on 25.

The Jackson show

Jackson had assumed a subdued role on Day One, but there was no stopping him on the morrow. He waited for his hundred. He took 140 minutes to get there, eventually making it by pulling Horsfall for six.

Then he cut loose. That over from Horsfall went for 21. On came Carvolth from the other end. Kippax gave the strike back to Jackson, who responded with 2, 4, 4, 6, 6, 4, 1 off the last 7 balls.

Carr came on. Jackson was in no mood to calm down. He survived two chances off the first two balls, at long-off and long-on. So he responded with two sixes, over long-on and long-off. The next ball was a pull, which Carvolth dropped on the fence, and as if on cue, Jackson pulled the ball after for six.

The curious cat-and-mouse game did not continue any further, as Jackson was stumped next ball in a bizarre over. Jackson had scored 158 in 148 minutes. His last 58 runs had come off a ridiculous 8 minutes.

Quinlan, he of the 18-minute-hundred fame, would have been proud.

McCabe joined the fun, smashing 54 in 18 minutes. It was batting in its most ridiculous form. Fairfax, never a big hitter, walked out and lofted Lynam over the square-leg fence. Kippax fell for 77.

Fairfax marched on. He was caught when he attempted another six over square-leg — but it was caught by a spectator. He immediately produced an encore. The score reached 470 for 5 at lunch, and Kippax, perhaps out of mercy, declared the innings closed.

Bradman the man, again 

The tourists took field without Hooker, who had injured a finger. Ives and Rigg opened bowling. Bradman came on first-change, and almost immediately had Gelling stumped.

McCoombe, perhaps with the intention of giving it back to Bradman, hit out for two fours and a towering six. Then he tried one shot too many; Pat Withers took the catch that gave Bradman his second wicket.

The Cairns batsmen, perhaps a bit disillusioned after the fireworks of the morning, decided to hit out instead of holding out for a draw. Lynam hit Bradman over his head outside the ground: the ball landed on Mulgrave Road. Even Bradman joined in the applause.

Shortly afterwards, Lynam hit Bradman to Kippax at cover-point. Austin was caught at long-on. Horwood, hero of the first innings, was stumped. And Wendell Bill, substituting for Hooker, caught Carvolth.

All 6 wickets had fallen to Bradman, 3 of them in the previous over. He had scored 90 in the first innings. He had now taken 10 in the match. Could he now take all 10 in an innings? 

For some reason, Kippax was not interested in all that. He replaced Bradman with his regular bowler Conway, who removed Burns immediately. Jackson got a bowl as well, dismissing Kiernan.

Kippax also summoned Garry Waddy, who was then no-balled twice for throwing. Conway, perhaps not very amused, finished things off quickly, taking the last 2 wickets. Cairns were bowled out for 125 and lost by an innings and plenty. Bradman finished with bizarre figures of 5-0-43-6 (eight-ball overs).

Bradman’s hundred

It was only 3.30. A discussion followed after Cairns were bowled out. Obviously a section of crowd had missed out on Bradman’s 90 on Saturday. Kippax’s men decided to entertain them, agreeing to bat on till stumps.

As news got out, the crowd swelled up to 5,000. The gate receipt, £135 on Day One, was £265 on the second day, amounting to a net profit of somewhere between £300 and £350 once the expenses were taken care of.

Kippax sent Bradman to open. After all, the whole point of the fourth innings was to entertain the crowd. However, there was also McCabe, and not for the last time in their career, McCabe overshadowed Bradman, smashing 9 boundaries in his 51 out of a stand of 89.

Bradman batted cautiously by the previous day’s standards. He lost Waddy with the score on 134. There was no risk, but the fours kept coming, especially off poor Olson.

Once he reached 60 he decided to go after the hapless bowlers again, hitting 4 sixes. The hundred came up with a cover-driven six off Olson, who had his revenge, getting the great man out for the second time in two days. Bradman had scored 103.

Kippax and Jackson batted till 265 for 3. Olson was treated disdainfully in both innings, his 18 overs (24 six-ball overs) going for 198, but he must have left the ground satisfied, with a tale to tell his grandchildren.

What followed?

– The tourists left for Innisfail that evening for another match. On that tour they also played Townsend during Easter, followed by Ayr, North Queensland, Bowen, and MacKay.

– The tourists hammered North Queensland, amassing 623 for 6, Jackson (171), Bradman (113), Waddy (105 not out), and Kippax (103 not out) all smashing hundreds. However, Burns got Bradman again, this time catching him off W Kogler.

– Harold Burns played only 5 First-Class matches. His greatest effort came against Victoria later that year, when he scored 14 and 22* and took 5 dismissals.

– This was also the last recorded tour for Jackson. Tuberculosis would claim him in another two years.

– Over eight decades after the match, Harold Burns’ great-nephew Joseph Anthony opened batting for Australia in a Test.

Brief scores:

Cairns 148 (H Horwood 70; Hal Hooker 3 for 22, Don Bradman 4 for 13) and 135 (J Lynam 42; Don Bradman 6 for 43, F Conway 3 for 33) lost to Alan Kippax XI 470 for 5 decl. (Archie Jackson 150, Don Bradman 90, Alan Kippax 77, Stan McCabe 54) and 265 for 3 (Don Bradman 103, Stan McCabe 51, Archie Jackson 50*, Alan Kippax 42*) by an innings and 287 runs.

Note: It was decided that Alan Kippax XI would bat on after the match, till stumps.

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketCountry and CricLife. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)

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