Bradman's 'first pitch' could be lost to retirement home
A cracked old concrete cricket pitch in NSW has become the subject of an unlikely turf war, with an iconic piece of Australian history supposedly at stake.
The pitch was laid in Wingecarribee, south of Sydney, in 1892, and it's believed a young Donald Bradman may have played his first youthful cricket matches on it.
Local researcher Nick Corbett said it was an "important part of Bradman's story".
A cracked old concrete cricket pitch might have been the place where Donald Bradman played his first games. 9News
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"It's an unwritten chapter and needs to be told," he said.
Those early matches laid the foundations for the young Bradman to become the greatest batsman of all time, with a still-unbeaten Test average of 99.94.
But now, the site has been earmarked for a retirement village.
Bradman remains the highest-ranked Test batsman of all time. 9News
Wingecarribee Shire Mayor Duncan Gair said the site had been heritage listed by council.
Even TV icon and cricket tragic Sir Michael Parkinson has weighed in, saying it would be a crime against Australian cultural heritage to get rid of the pitch.
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