Word: bradman
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...that make up the Jack Fingleton Papers, stored in 27 boxes at the State Library of New South Wales. These documents, which include chummy correspondence with several Australian Prime Ministers, were a boon for Fingleton's biographer, Sydney journalist Greg Growden, who's written a book that would have Bradman, topical again in the centenary of his birth, turning in his grave...
...Remarkably, Fingleton, a raconteur of Irish stock, found fault not only with Bradman the man but with Bradman the cricketer - quite a feat considering The Don's record, which marks him as easily the best ever. Fingleton claimed that in a lead-up match to the Bodyline series of 1932-33, Bradman, suspecting he was to be the target of short-pitched bowling from England's fast men, beseeched the rookie Fingleton to shelter him when the pair were batting together. "These blighters are after me," Bradman is alleged to have said. "They intend to bowl at my head. Will...
...Fingleton felt that Bradman used his influence to have the opener miss a tour of England, and other episodes, much debated, cemented his belief that Bradman was inclined to betray team-mates and cover his tracks. Were these grievances playing on Fingleton when he wrote The Immortal Victor Trumper, a biography of his cricketing hero? He could wait no longer than its second paragraph to proclaim: "To me, Trumper remains the greatest batsman who ever lived. Bradman could be rightly advanced against him, but whereas Bradman ... operated upon bowlers like a butcher at the abattoirs ... Trumper was like a surgeon...
...Fingleton that Growden uncovers can be hard to like. A sense emerges of an intolerant man who resented playing second fiddle to anyone; a hater whose insecurities, combined with an elephantine memory, spawned grudges that stunted his capacity for clear thinking. The most telling anecdote concerns Bradman's last Test innings, at The Oval in 1948, when he needed just four runs to average 100 in Tests but, having been applauded all the way to the crease and given three cheers by the English players, was bowled anticlimactically for nought. Watching from the press box, Fingleton and his mate, bowling...
...While Growden is mostly clear-eyed about Fingleton, he's too kind to him here. Bradman, who outlived Fingleton by 20 years, was entitled never to forgive him for this childish display, but he showed a greater capacity to move on than Fingleton ever did. Growden's work is a fascinating study of a complex man's relationship with a legend. It should not, however, inspire a broad reevaluation of Bradman's character...