Donald Bradman With The Australian Cricket Team in England in 1948 - Third Test

Third Test

The teams reassembled at Old Trafford on 8 July for the Third Test. Australia dropped Brown, who had scored 73 runs at 24.33 in three innings; he was replaced by the all rounder Sam Loxton, who had made 47 not out against Surrey and an unbeaten 159 against Gloucestershire. Yardley won the toss and elected to bat.

On the second day, Bradman was involved in effecting a run out. Denis Compton hit a ball into the covers and Bradman and Loxton collided in an attempt to prevent a run. Compton called Bedser through for a run on the misfield, but Loxton recovered and threw the ball to the wicket-keeper's end with Bedser a long way short of the crease. It ended an innings of 145 minutes, in which Bedser scored 37 and featured in a 121-run partnership with Compton. Compton hit several boundaries and Bradman responded by spreading his field to offer Compton a single so that the tail-enders would be on strike and could be attacked. This worked, as Compton was unable to farm the strike as he desired, and wickets fell at the other end. Bradman caught Jack Young to end England's innings at 363. Having dropped Brown, Barnes was hit in the ribs by a Dick Pollard pull shot and taken to hospital, leaving Australia with only Morris as a specialist opening batsman. Ian Johnson was deployed as Australia's makeshift second opener. He fell for one to bring Bradman to bat. O'Reilly criticised the use of Johnson to partner Morris, as Hassett had transformed himself into a defensive batsman with little backlift and a guarded approach, a style typical of an opener. The Australian captain thus had to face Bedser, who had already dismissed him three times in the Tests with a new ball, and Pollard, who had troubled him in the match against Lancashire. Pollard then trapped Bradman for seven with an off cutter that struck the Australian captain on the back foot to leave Australia at 2/13. Australia were eventually out for 221, yielding a 142-run lead.

When Bill Edrich came to the crease, Bradman advised Lindwall not to bowl any bouncers at Edrich, fearing that it would be interpreted as retaliation for Edrich's bouncing of Lindwall in the first innings and lead to a negative media and crowd reaction. Although Lindwall did not retaliate, Miller did so with four consecutive bouncers, earning the ire of the crowd. He struck Edrich on the body before Bradman intervened and ordered him to stop, before apologising to Edrich. England reached 3/174, a lead of 316, at the end of day three, but declared on the fifth morning after the fourth day was washed out. Bradman chose the light roller and play was supposed to begin after lunch. However, play did not begin until after tea and the pitch played very slowly because of the excess moisture. With Australia not looking to chase the runs, Yardley often had seven men in close catching positions. Australia showed little attacking intent and Bradman joined Morris with Australia at 1/10 after 32 minutes.

Bradman then played 11 balls from Young without scoring. Yardley used the spin of Young and Compton for an hour, while Morris and Bradman made little effort to score. For 105 minutes, Morris stayed at one end and Bradman at the other; neither looked to rotate the strike with singles. Bradman only played eight balls from Morris's main end, and at one point was so startled that Morris wanted a single that he sent him back. The tourists thereafter batted safely in a defensive manner to ensure a draw. They ended at 1/92 in 61 overs, a run rate of 1.50, with 35 maidens, which was the slowest innings run rate to date in the series. Bradman finished unbeaten on 30 from 146 balls when the oft-interrupted match was finally terminated by a series of periodic rain interruptions. O'Reilly criticised the approach taken by the Australians in the closing stages of the match, attributing it to Bradman's orders. He said that the pitch was made so tame by the heavy rain that they could have played in a natural and attractive manner to entertain the spectators, rather than defending carefully. He said that Bradman's "unwillingness to take a risk or to accept the challenging call of some particular phase of the game is one of the greatest flaws" in his leadership.

After the Test, Bradman managed only six as Australia scored 317 and 0/22 to defeat Middlesex by ten wickets in their only county match between Tests. He was again caught in the leg trap by Denis Compton.