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Press Office

DEATH OF SIR DONALD BRADMAN PROMPTS WORLDWIDE MOURNING
CricInfo leads call to name World Test Championship after the Don
27 February 2001


Cricket lovers all over the world are mourning the death of Sir Donald Bradman. Within 24 hours of the news of the great batsman's demise, more than 2,000 tributes had been sent in to CricInfo.com from countries as far a field as Grenada and Indonesia. In response to the demands of many of CricInfo's users, the company is leading a campaign to name the recently announced ICC World Test Championship in his honour.

Stephen Lamb, CricInfo's Managing Editor said: "The impact of Sir Donald Bradman's death has been felt across the globe. We have received an extraordinary number of emails from just about every country you can think of, from eight year old boys in Delhi to octogenarians who watched him play at his peak.

"There is profound and sincere grief, but overall it is the fact that he was such an extraordinary player and gentleman of cricket that people are remembering.

"It would seem entirely fitting for a figure of such global importance and popularity that in future the Test Match playing countries should compete for the Bradman Trophy. More than 80 per cent of people who have responded to a poll on the site have made this demand."

The news of Bradman's death broke on CricInfo on Sunday evening and the tributes immediately started to arrive.

"The recent death of Lord Cowdrey created a similar response with people remembering him with great warmth, even though many of them would never have seen him play let alone have met him," Lamb continued. "But there really was no-one else like the Don in cricket and his legend and global influence will not diminish."

The tribute page to Sir Donald Bradman can be viewed on www.cricinfo.com


Tributes to Sir Don - a selection:

"The greatest batsman of all now takes his place in God's greatest eleven. I envy those who were lucky enough to watch him, I unfortunately only met him twice. His book Bradman on Cricket remains as a shrine in my office and will forever do so. No words can really do justice to his contribution to the greatest game. If ever there was a path to the holy shrine of batting, then Sir Donald Bradman was it. My family's condolences go to his remaining family and he will always be remembered by all cricketers and those of us who love the game so much" (Bob Woolmer)

"The death of Sir Donald is not just the passing of a great cricketer, it is the passing of an icon. I neither met nor saw Sir Donald, but he had a profound influence on me. To me, he was the greatest of the great."

"Marshall to Bradman, pitched up, the Don crashes it through the covers for four... Hope it's sunny up there, enjoy the game, Sir Donald."

"Don Bradman was not one of the stars ,but the sun itself. Now that the sun has set we must move in darkness."

"Thanks for putting a smile on my dad's face and a glint in his eye every time he remembered 'The Don'. In his words "As a kid you loved when he came to bat because you knew they'd be a century that session. After he retired, cricket was so bloody slow you could barely watch it. You didn't realise at the time that the game would never get any better than it was in those days."

"I am moved by the way Australia honours one of it greatest sporting heroes of all time. Cricket is only a small sport in The Netherlands but even here Sir Bradman's death is news in every newspaper and on television."

"The best there ever was, the best there will ever be. A cricketing icon that has lasted well beyond his career. In 50 years kids will still be dreaming of emulating his greatness. I can't imagine Australia without The Don."

ABOUT CRICINFO LIMITED

CricInfo Limited is the world's leading digital cricket information company. CricInfo's web site, www.cricinfo.com, is the most popular cricket site in the world and is among the internet's most popular sports sites, estimated to reach more than fifteen million fans in 180 countries. The site records arpund 100 million page impressions for per month, with December 2000's total of 111,993,807 being the highest to date.

CricInfo has its Head Office in the UK, with regional offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Satyam Infoway Limited (NASDAQ: SIFY), India's leading internet services and e-commerce company, acquired a 25% stake in CricInfo in May 2000.

CricInfo works with cricket boards and cricket organisations, blue chip companies and the media to deliver cricket content for a wide range of different platforms. It currently produces official sites for eight of the ten Test-playing countries, for the ICC and for a number of domestic teams worldwide.

For further information, please contact:
Graham McKechnie, Press Officer, CricInfo Ltd.
Telephone: +44 (0) 1249 700733, email: grahamm@cricinfo.com


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Date-stamped : 27 Feb2001 - 16:45