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Ninety, not out

Today is the day -- when Sir Donald George Bradman turns 90.

A semi-recluse for quite a while, Bradman will not even be attending the birthday bash thrown in his honour.

But the master batsman will meet, in private, the man he names as his successor -- a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar of India.

It was Bradman who, in one of his rare television interviews, described Tendulkar as the one player whose attitude, shot selection and execution most closely matched his own.

Tendulkar, who has been given special permission by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to absent himself from the ongoing preparatory camp in Chennai for the Sahara Cup and Commonwealth Games fixtures, said the chance of meeting Bradman was a dream.

"When I heard for the first time what Bradman had said about me, I phoned up my parents, my wife, told them about it, I felt very excited and proud and honoured," Tendulkar recalled.

"I hope I get some good tips from him about batting, that's what I'm looking forward to," Tendulkar said, adding that he didn't want to let the opportunity slip.

Meanwhile, the celebrations that have been going on for about a month now will peak later this evening, when over 1,300 guests attend a special dinner in his home town, Adelaide, while other dinners and celebratory parties happen in his birthplace Cootamundra, and in Bowral, the town he grew up in and to which he gave fame by his exploits.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard led the flood of tributes by lauding Bradman as the greatest living Australian.

"He is more than just a supreme cricketer, he was a beacon of hope for a generation living through the dark economic days of the Great Depression," Howard wrote in his syndicated column. "He gave hope and encouragement and inspiration to a generation of Australians, particularly during the 1930s when the memories of the terrible slaughter of our young men in France and on the beaches of Gallipoli was still very much part of the Australian psyche."

Though Bradman retired from cricket more than five decades ago, his feats with the bat have remained unmatched by anyone since -- not even Sachin Tendulkar, who the Don rates as his successor, managing to come even remotely close.

In course of his television interview where he spoke of Tendulkar, Bradman was also asked how he thought he might perform against modern bowling attacks.

Bradman replied that he would average 65, before adding with a dry grin: "You have to remember I am in my 80s!"

One of the Don's enduring trademarks is that he never got out in the nineties. As he turns ninety in life today, cricket followers around the world unite in wishing him one more hundred to add to his glittering collection.

Agencies