Boria Majumdar
52 Shepherd Street. The moment the address is mentioned, the one word that comes to mind is reverence. For this is where the greatest cricketer of all time, Sir Donald Bradman, lived for a good 14 years between 1911 and 1924. Located in scenic Bowral, this house has been one of the most visited residence museums in the world. In fact, 52 Shepherd Street is one of the many Bradman attractions in Bowral.
The journey actually starts a mile before you enter the town itself. On the left-hand side of the highway, tucked away amidst bushes, is a billboard with ‘Bowral’ written on it. That’s when you first know that you are nearing cricket’s sacred pilgrimage. And once you enter the quaint little town, most things carry a Bradman connection. Be it the roads, a few of which are named after Bradman, or the cricket ground, which too bears the name of Sir Donald, he is the one who dominates the Bowral narrative. And the best thing is how each Bradman memory has been preserved.
The Bradman Oval is easily one of the best-maintained grounds in Australia and, being located just next to the Bradman Museum, it is an added attraction for every tourist who comes to Bowral. The museum, redone and refurbished, is a marvel. Specially curated audiovisual shows, fascinating Bradman artefacts and memorabilia — the Bradman Museum is one for the bucket list.
Other attractions in Bowral include the house at 20 Glebe Street, where Sir Don lived for four years between 1924 and 1928.
However, the best part about a visit to Bowral is the experience at the tank stand. While the Bradman Museum has a replica of it and visitors can play with a stump and a plastic golf ball, the house at 52 Shepherd Street still has the original tank stand that Sir Don used to hone his skills. Multiple stumps are kept next to it, and new golf balls are placed in a bucket for visitors to experience and recreate what Sir Donald used to do for hours every day. And let me tell you, the act isn’t easy. The golf ball can go either way, and to be able to hit it with a stump is seriously difficult.
This is where Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar come together and, in a sense, become one. While Sir Don honed his skills with a golf ball in Bowral in the 1910s and early 1920s, 60 years later Sachin Tendulkar did the same in Mumbai, without knowing a thing about Sir Donald. Sachin had asked his aunt to shave off the sides of a golf ball and give him throwdowns, trying to perfect his defensive technique in the process.
From this visit to Bowral, one thing stayed with me. The whole Bradman experience has now been curated and immortalised for all time. Can we do the same for a Gavaskar or a Tendulkar in India?
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