Don Bradman's Test Debut — Brisbane, November 1928

Bradman had been signed to play for the South Sydney club at 18, then promoted to NSW at 19 and to the Australian Test side at 20. The selectors took a calculated risk on his Sheffield Shield form, but the conventional wisdom in 1928 was that he was a small, unconventional batsman whose technique might not stand up to Larwood's pace.

Bradman had played for New South Wales since 1927-28, finishing his first season with 1,690 first-class runs. Selected for the first Test of the 1928-29 Ashes at Brisbane's Exhibition Ground (the MCG was being prepared for the second Test), he batted at six, came in at 71 for 4, and was caught at slip off Maurice Tate for 18. England, captained by Percy Chapman, had made 521 — Hammond 44, Hendren 169 — and bowled Australia out for 122.

Bradman, demoted to seven in the second innings, made just 1 before being caught off Larwood. Australia were bowled out for 66; England won by an innings and 675 runs (the actual margin was 675 runs after Australia's two-innings deficit), the largest victory in Test history at that point. Bradman was dropped for the second Test at Sydney, the only Test of his career he was not selected for.

He returned for the third Test at Melbourne and made 79 and 112 — his first Test hundred. He went on to score 468 runs in seven innings during the rest of the series. England won the Ashes 4-1, but Bradman's 1928-29 series figures (468 runs at 66.85 in the four Tests he played) announced the man who would, in 1930, score 974 runs in five Tests in England.

“I had been keyed up beyond endurance and the dropping was the best thing that ever happened to me. It taught me to think about my game.”

Bradman returned for the third Test at Melbourne and made 79 and 112. Across the rest of the series he scored 468 runs at 66.85, and was named Australia's senior batsman for the 1930 Ashes in England — where he made 974 runs in five Tests including 334 at Headingley.