Sir Donald George Bradman, who died on 25 February, 2001, at the age of 92, was a sporting icon and a cricketing legend, the likes of which may never be seen again.

He scored 6,996 runs in 52 tests at an average of 99.94, a figure that no other player in the history of the game comes close to matching.

Having retired from test cricket in 1948, 52 years later Wisden, cricket's authoritative almanac, named him as the best cricketer of the 20th century.

Donald George Bradman was born on 27 August, 1908, in Cootamundra, New South Wales, Australia. The youngest of five children, he did not have anyone to play cricket with as a child, so invented a one man cricket game involving a stump and a golf ball, which he practised obsessively.

After setting countless records for his local side, Bowral, and in grade cricket for St George, he made his debut for New South Wales at the age of 18.

England arrived in Australia in the 1928-29 season to defend The Ashes. Mr Bradman impressed sufficiently in warm up matches to secure a debut at Brisbane in the first test.

He was dropped following a poor performance, but reinstated for the third test, in which he scored 79 and 112 to become the youngest man to make a Test century.

The rate at which Mr Bradman scored his runs was phenomenal. In January 1930, against Queensland at the SCG, at just 21 years of age, he broke the world's batting record for the highest score in first-class cricket, registering 452 not out, scored in only 415 minutes.

Months later Australia arrived in England for Mr Bradman's second Ashes series. After becoming the only Australian touring player ever to pass 1,000 first class runs by the end of May, he soon set about destroying England's bowling attack.

He hit 131 in the first test, broke the world Test batting record with 334 runs, scoring 309 runs in a day in the third test and scored 232 runs in the fifth test to have a series test aggregate of 974 runs at a batting average of 139.14, as Australia regained the ashes.

In an attempt to limit Mr Bradman's scoring opportunities, England devised a method of bowling at the body of Australian batsmen during the next Ashes series, known as 'bodyline'. He averaged 56 during the series, but he could not impose himself on the English bowlers as England reclaimed the Ashes in controversial circumstances.

The onset of war, coupled with a deterioration in his health, brought about by fibrositis, meant that Mr Bradman was robbed of what should have been his finest cricketing years.

After being discharged from the Army on health grounds, he was elected to the Australian Board of Control in August 1945, during a five-year break from playing due to severe muscular spasms. He ended this interlude in 1946 to accept the Australian captaincy for a test series against England, in an effort to help post-war recovery.

In March 1948, Mr Bradman captained the Australian test team in England on his final tour. They became known as 'The Invincibles' during their eight-month tour as they won every match. A duck in his final innings meant that Mr Bradman's career average was stranded on 99, but he had made more than 28,000 runs including 117 centuries.

He was knighted in 1949 for his services to cricket and spent the rest of his life working as a cricket administrator and selector in Australia, whilst also writing extensively on the game.

Mr Bradman died at his home in Adelaide following a short illness and was survived by his only son, John.