Don Bradman the 1939 South Australian open squash champion, good golfer, billiards player; local cricket average 87

Kensington Oval, near Don Bradman's Adelaide home, where he scored 3,377 runs for the Kensington club.

World cricket legend Don Bradman was South Australian state champion squash player in 1939. Given Bradman’s natural talent that extended to junior tennis, the title is not surprising. But squash was another South Australian aspect of his life, since he took up game only after moving to Adelaide in 1934. 

Bradman won the South Australian squash open by beating Don Turnbull, then a Davis Cup star, in the final.

Besides being outstanding at billiards (architect Philip Claridge added a billiards room to his Kensington Park home), Bradman also was a good golfer, winning the Mount Osmond Golf Club championship in 1935 and 1949. He kept playing at Kooyonga Golf Club until his late 80s.

Bradman played Adelaide district cricket for the Kensington club at Kensington Oval near his Kensington Park home. His record with Kensington (The Browns) is less than at Test level but, from 37 games between 1935-36 and 1948-49, he scored 3377 runs at an average of 87.

Kensington Oval, originally Shipster’s Paddock and later owned by a private school, dates back to 1870s. With its quaint Rex and Basil Sellers Stand and gum-tree surrounds, the oval on The Parade also has hosted Australian football, soccer and athletics.

Founded in 1871, Kensington Cricket Club’s other Test players include Terry Jenner (from Western Australia), Greg Blewett and Tim May, along with another great, the leg spinner Clarrie Grimmett (from New Zealand, via New South Wales and Victoria). One of the major controversies of Bradman’s career was, as an Australian selector, leaving Grimmett out of the 1938 tour of England.