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Critics also picked out Bradman for his susceptibility on rain-affected wickets. Bradman, reared on the dry surfaces of his country, was never at ease on a wet pitch. At Lord's in 1934, on such a wicket, he swung at Verity and had the wicketkeeper running around to short square leg to hold him. Sir Pelham Warner said he would never forget the look which the non-striker and captain Woodfull gave Bradman as he passed him on his way back to the pavilion. Bradman had scored 13.
Bradman's fatal stroke at 0 in the Brisbane Test of 1936-37 was in the opinion of Neville Cardus, not fit for public view.
His duck in the following Test at Sydney, also on a 'stickie' was the result of a most harmless delivery from Bill Voce. When Bradman scored 5 against Middlesex in 1938, Woodfull said: "McCabe stood well over the ball. Bradman made the stroke of a beginner."
Middlesex and England bowler Ian Peebles wrote, "Watching it I had the feeling that the batsman was keenly aware that he was suspect in this environment and was determined to explore and conquer it. The result was that the whole perfect mechanism got so out of gear that full tosses and long-hops went unpunished from the heel or shoulder of the bat. His closest friend in England, Walter Robins, watched the whole performance for a time with some glee, and then suggested to the harassed striker that he might with better effect try left-handed." (To be continued)
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