Sir Donald George Bradman: Tendulkar, Google and ICC lead tributes to 'The Don' on 110th birthday

Bradman was named 'greatest living Australian' before he died in 2001

Don Bradman, widely considered one of the greatest sportsmen of all time, has been receiving tributes today on what would have been his 110th birthday.

Leading figures of the cricket world offered their memories of the man known as The Don, an Australian team captain who set many records in a glittering career from 1928 to 1948.

Bradman, a batsman, is best known for setting a career Test batting average of 99.94 - a feat which most pundits think unlikely to be bested.

Sachin Tendulkar, the former Indian captain and another regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, tweeted on Monday to recall his “special memory” of meeting The Don.

“It’s been 20 years since I met the inspirational Sir #DonBradman but that special memory is so vivid,” he said. “I still recall his amazing wit, warmth, and wisdom. Remembering him fondly today, on what would have been his 110th birthday.”

The ICC, cricket’s governing body, said that “on this day in 1908, a legend was born”. “52 Tests, 6,996 runs, 29 centuries, 13 fifties, a high score of 334. An unmatched average of 99.94. The one and only, Sir Don Bradman.”

Bradman was born in Cootamundra in 1908, before his family moved to Bowral, New South Wales, some two hours by train outside of Sydney. His father was a carpenter who built a simple house across the round from the cricket ground.

It was here that his legend began, as a boy who arose from playing cricket in “the bush” to making his Test debut by the age of 19. On a subsequent visit home to Bowral, Bradman himself told the story of how he honed his hand-eye coordination by hitting a golf ball with a stump against a water tank for hours on end.

Not just a solo star, Bradman also led an Australia team that became known as “The Invincibles”, after they went undefeated as visitors in a 4-0 series win in England in the 1948 Ashes, the first time such a feat had ever been achieved.

Bradman died in 2001, aged 92. Earlier that same year he was named by Australia’s prime minister John Howard as the “greatest living Australian”, and in 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

According to a number of biographers, Bradman’s famous name should actually never have been Donald George Bradman - but Donald George Bradnam.

It may sound odd now that he has become such an icon, but Charles Williams’ Bradman details how the cricket star’s great-grandparents were registered as having the names John and Lucy (née Rawlinson) Bradnam.

Their son Charles, however, was given the surname Bradman in birth records, however. Williams explains that this was likely a simple clerical error - “most of the villagers were illiterate and even the church authorities made muddles from time to time”.

The name stuck, and Charles’ son George too became a Bradman. By the time he fathered Donald George there was no going back and, from humble beginnings, the name Bradman would go down in legend as synonymous with sporting success.