Editing Don Bradman (section)

===End of an era===
During the 1938 tour of England, Bradman played the most consistent cricket of his career.<ref name=1939Wis>{{cite web|url=http://content-www.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/155217.html?from=login|title=The Australian team in England 1938|work=Wisden|year=1939|access-date=15 May 2008|last=Wilfrid|first=Brookes|archive-date=2 January 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102102248/http://content-www.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/155217.html?from=login|url-status=live}}</ref>
He needed to score heavily as England had a strengthened batting line-up, while the Australian [[Bowling (cricket)|bowling]] was over-reliant on O'Reilly.<ref name=1939Wis/> Grimmett was overlooked, but [[Jack Fingleton]] made the team, so the clique of anti-Bradman players remained.<ref name=Swanton/> Playing 26&nbsp;[[innings]] on tour, Bradman recorded 13&nbsp;centuries (a new Australian record) and again made 1,000&nbsp;[[First-class cricket|first-class]] runs before the end of May, becoming the only player to do so twice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesonline.typepad.com/line_and_length/2006/05/the_hunt_for_10.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723004119/http://timesonline.typepad.com/line_and_length/2006/05/the_hunt_for_10.html|archive-date=23 July 2008|title=The hunt for 1,000|last=Kidd|first=Patrick|date=9 May 2006|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=23 August 2008}}</ref> In scoring 2,429&nbsp;runs, Bradman achieved the highest average ever recorded in an English season: 115.66.<ref name=1939Wis/>
[[File:Don Bradman and Stan McCabe.jpg|thumb|Bradman (left, with his vice-captain Stan McCabe) walks out to bat at Perth, during a preliminary match to the 1938 tour of England. Bradman scored 102.]]

In the First Test, England amassed a big first innings score and looked likely to win, but [[Stan McCabe]] made 232 for Australia, a performance Bradman rated as the best he had ever seen. With Australia forced to [[follow-on]], Bradman fought hard to ensure McCabe's effort was not in vain, and he secured the draw with 144 not out.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1938/AUS_IN_ENG/AUS_ENG_T1_10-14JUN1938.html|title=The Ashes, 1938, 1st Test|work=Cricinfo|access-date=20 June 2008|archive-date=24 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624045556/http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1938/AUS_IN_ENG/AUS_ENG_T1_10-14JUN1938.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It was the slowest Test hundred of his career and he played a similar innings of 102 not out in the next Test as Australia struggled to another draw.<ref>{{cite web| url =http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1938/AUS_IN_ENG/AUS_ENG_T2_24-28JUN1938.html| work =Cricinfo| title =2nd Test, 24–28&nbsp;June 1938| access-date =14 May 2008| archive-date =18 February 2006| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20060218063827/http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1930S/1938/AUS_IN_ENG/AUS_ENG_T2_24-28JUN1938.html| url-status =live}}</ref> Rain completely washed out the Third Test at [[Old Trafford Cricket Ground|Old Trafford]].<ref name="ThirdTest1938">{{cite web| year = 1938| url = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/151851.html| title = Third Test match: England v Australia 1938| work = Wisden| access-date = 14 May 2008| archive-date = 2 January 2013| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130102140915/http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/151851.html| url-status = live}}</ref>

Australia's opportunity came at Headingley, a Test described by Bradman as the best he ever played in.<ref name=Bradman1>Bradman (1950), pp. 115–118.</ref> England batted first and made 223. During the Australian innings, Bradman backed himself by opting to bat on in poor light conditions, reasoning that Australia could score more runs in bad light on a good pitch than on a rain affected pitch in good light, when he had the option to go off.<ref name=1939test4/> He scored 103 out of a total of 242 and the gamble paid off, as it meant there was sufficient time to push for victory when an England collapse left them a target of only 107 to win. Australia slumped to 4/61, with Bradman out for 16. An approaching storm threatened to wash the game out, but the poor weather held off and Australia managed to secure the win, a victory that retained the Ashes.<ref name=1939test4>{{cite web| url = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/151852.html| work = Wisden| year = 1939| title = 4th Test England v Australia, match report| access-date = 8 August 2007| archive-date = 31 October 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231031220054/https://wisden.com/| url-status = live}}</ref> For the only time in his life, the tension of the occasion got to Bradman and he could not watch the closing stages of play, a reflection of the pressure that he felt all tour: he described the captaincy as "exhausting" and said he "found it difficult to keep going".<ref name=Bradman1/>

The euphoria of securing the Ashes preceded Australia's heaviest defeat. At [[The Oval]], England amassed a world record of 7/903 and their opening batsman [[Len Hutton]] scored an individual world record, by making 364.<ref name=1939test5/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/134344.html|title=The highest score in Test cricket|last=Lynch|first=Steven|date=12 April 2004|work=Cricinfo|access-date=23 August 2008|archive-date=11 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711085214/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/134344.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In an attempt to relieve the burden on his bowlers, Bradman took a rare turn at bowling. During his third [[Over (cricket)|over]], he [[Bone fracture|fractured]] his ankle and teammates carried him from the ground.<ref name=1939test5>{{cite web| url =http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/151853.html| work =Wisden | year = 1939 | title = 5th Test England v Australia, match report |access-date = 22 August 2007}}</ref> With Bradman injured and Fingleton unable to bat because of a leg muscle strain,<ref name=1939test5/><ref>Bradman (1950), p. 108.</ref> Australia were thrashed by an innings and 579&nbsp;runs, which remains the largest margin in Test cricket history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/210099.html|work=Cricinfo|title=Largest margin of victory (by an innings)|access-date=5 December 2007|archive-date=11 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711032259/http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/210099.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Unfit to complete the tour, Bradman left the team in the hands of vice-captain Stan McCabe. At this point, Bradman felt that the burden of captaincy would prevent him from touring England again, although he did not make his doubts public.<ref name=Bradman1/>

Despite the pressure of captaincy, Bradman's batting form remained supreme. An experienced, mature player now commonly called "The Don" had replaced the blitzing style of his early days as the "Boy from Bowral".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/sportsf/stories/s689981.htm|title=Football in the Age of Instability (transcript)|date=4 October 2002|work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|access-date=23 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205083443/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/sportsf/stories/s689981.htm|archive-date=5 February 2008}}</ref> In 1938–39, he led [[Southern Redbacks|South Australia]] to the [[Sheffield Shield]] and made a century in six consecutive innings to equal [[CB Fry]]'s world record.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282971.html| work = Cricinfo| title = Hundreds in consecutive innings| access-date = 23 August 2008| archive-date = 5 October 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081005082956/http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282971.html| url-status = live}}</ref> Bradman totalled 21&nbsp;first-class centuries in 34&nbsp;innings, from the beginning of the 1938 tour of England (including preliminary games in Australia) until early 1939.

The next season, Bradman made an abortive bid to join the [[Victoria cricket team|Victoria state side]]. The [[Melbourne Cricket Club]] advertised the position of club secretary and he was led to believe that if he applied, he would get the job.<ref>Dunstan (1988), p. 172.</ref> The position, which had been held by [[Hugh Trumble]] until his death in August 1938, was one of the most prestigious jobs in Australian cricket. The annual salary of £1,000 would make Bradman financially secure while allowing him to retain a connection with the game.<ref name="MCCSecretary">Williams (1996), pp. 182–183. "Nevertheless, the Secretaryship of the Melbourne Cricket Club was, and indeed, still is one of the most attractive jobs in the world of Australian cricket&nbsp;..."</ref> On 18 January 1939, the club's committee, on the casting vote of the chairman, chose former Test batsman [[Vernon Ransford]] over Bradman.<ref name="MCCSecretary"/><ref>Coleman (1993) pp. 425–426.</ref>

In August 1939, Bradman won the South Australian squash championships, beating Australian Davis Cup tennis player Don Turnbull in the final.  Turnbull won the first two games in the best-of-five game contest and led 8–3 in the third game with five match points, but Bradman won the game and the fourth.  Turnbull led 8–5 in the fifth game but Bradman went on to win.<ref>{{cite news|title=Squash rackets|page=13|work=The West Australian (Perth)|date=19 August 1939|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46418042|via=Trove|access-date=15 August 2023|archive-date=15 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815155824/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46418042|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 1939–40 season was Bradman's most productive ever for SA: 1,448&nbsp;runs at an average of 144.8.<ref name=Robertson/> He made three double centuries, including 251 not out against NSW, the innings that he rated the best he ever played in the Sheffield Shield, as he tamed Bill O'Reilly at the height of his form.<ref>Bradman (1950), p. 120.</ref> However, it was the end of an era. The outbreak of World War II led to the indefinite postponement of all cricket tours, and the suspension of the Sheffield Shield competition.<ref>Harte (1993), pp. 382–383.</ref>