Flashback: The first bowler to get Don Bradman out for a duck

Sir Donald Bradman was a cricket prodigy and went on to become one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game and brought a lot of laurels to his national cricket team Australia. He retired from the game after registering a stunning average of 99.94 in the purest format of the game, a mark that has not been eclipsed in 72 years.

In his illustrious international career, “The Don” amassed a whopping 6996 runs in the Test format in just 52 games along with scalping two wickets at an economy rate of 2.70. He also had 28,076 runs in 234 First-class games under his belt at a stunning average of 95.1.

Today in 1931 at SCG: Don Bradman recorded his first duck of his Test career, when he was bowled by West Indian fast bowler Herman Griffith!

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) March 4, 2016

The greatest batsmen who ever lived had seven ducks to his name in his entire international career. Meanwhile, the first bowler to scalp the wicket of the great Sir Donald Bradman for a duck was the West Indies bowler, Herman Griffith. The right-arm fast bowler from West Indies represented the Caribbean nation in just 13 Tests scalping 44 wickets at an economy of 2.80 and 28.2.

West Indies were on their first tour to Australia in 1931 when Herman Griffith scripted history and became a part of a key moment of the Caribbean cricket history by sending the great Sir Donald Bradman back to the pavilion for duck for the first time. The historic incident had taken place on the 3rd of March, 1931 in Sydney.

The last survivor from West Indies’ first full-throttle pace trio, Herman Griffith was a top gear pacer who was capable of derailing any batsman on his day. Born in Arima, Trinidad and Tobago, Herman made his debut during the West Indies tour of England in 1928. He had emerged as the most successful visiting bowler in that tour by scalping 11 wickets in just 3 games. What makes this more amazing is the fact that England gave away just 30 wickets combined in all three games as they won all the Test matches by an innings.

Though Griffith Test career was short-lived as he could play only 13 games in the purest format of the game, he was one of the most successful bowlers in first-class cricket for more than two decades. The veteran seamer played 79 First-class games scalping a whopping 257 wickets at an economy rate of 2.99 and strike rate of 28.4.