Donald Bradman, one of the most successful batsman in cricket history, doesn’t just have a great batting technique and doesn’t just hold over 10 records he has also impacted the world ‘off the field’.
Sir Donald George ‘Don’ Bradman was a very successful cricket player that had a great reputation on and off the field. Bradman holds many records but the most talked about one is the record of highest batting average, which is 99.94. Bradman was a big part in not only Australia’s cricket history but their history overall.
‘Don’ stopped a tour with South Africa and travelled to South Africa and Britain to investigate and try and stop the South African apartheid. Donald was anti-apartheid but believed that the South African cricketers were
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Meredith Burgmann was astonished to receive a letter from someone as high regarded as Bradman. Bradman was intrigued with the response.
Bradman then flew to South Africa to meet with the Prime Minister, John Vorster. Vorster expected Donald to support the tour, but the meeting between the two quickly became tense and then sour.
Bradman asked why the blacks were denied a chance to represent their country. Vorster suggested that they wouldn’t be able to cope with crickets involvements and were intellectually inferior.
Vorster’s racist attitudes, which were what Bradman thought to be “ignorant and repugnant”, contributed to his change of mind.
Bradman then flew to Britain to seek advice from Harold Wilson and Ted Health, British political leaders who had dealt with this protest in England.
Bradman then returned to Australia with his mind made up. He came to the agreement with fellow cricket board members, called a press conference and announced the cancellation of the tour. Bradman made a simple statement, “We will not play them (South Africa) until they choose a team on a non-racist basis.” Vorster spoke his anger publicly against Bradman while the African National Congress