Ashes, Bradman and power of imagination

THE Ashes is upon us. Cricket's most storied rivalry inevitably brings to mind the greatest batter the game has known.

- R RAJESH KUMAR @Sydney

Donald Bradman whom even Nelson Mandela regarded as "one of the divinities"- made an unparalleled 5,028 runs in these Tests.

This included, of course, that famous second-ball duck in his final innings.

That small failure meant that the rarest of Nature's creatures, a genius with an eye for business as R.C. Robertson-Glasgow summed him up finished with 6,996 runs at an average of 99.94. Another four runs and the Don's average would have read an even 100. The travesty!

What many Indian readers may find heart-stirring is how the destiny of the cricket's champion bat was forged far from the grand stadiums we know today-in Bowral, a quiet, almost meditative town around 116 km from Sydney.

Walking through Bowral recently, one could sense how the rhythms of the place shaped the boy who would make batting immortal.