Cricket hall of fame for Bradman’s town Bowral

SYDNEY - Sir Donald Bradman’s hometown of Bowral will house The International Cricket Hall of Fame, cementing its appeal as a pilgrimage site for the sport.

Announcing the project Thursday, The Bradman Foundation said it would open in 2010 as an extension of the Bradman Museum, at Bradman Oval in the NSW Southern Highlands town.

While the museum celebrates The Don, the world’s greatest batsman, the hall of fame will honour past and present international cricketers.

The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) centenary Hall of Fame list will form its centrepiece - 55 of the game’s top players from seven nations, spanning a century of Test cricket.

The foundation says just as Lords in London is known as the home of the sport’s laws and rules, Bowral will become the custodian of cricket’s players and their history.

Bradman Foundation chairman Michael Ball said it was fitting a museum honouring cricket’s elite players had a direct connection to Bradman.

“Bradman Oval has always been viewed as the spiritual home of cricket as it is the scene of Don Bradman’s early triumphs,” Ball was quoted as saying in the Australian media Thursday.

The hall of fame will showcase all forms of cricket, including Twenty20, through interactive displays, allowing visitors to experience such things as umpiring technology and media broadcasting.

The project, financed by a federal government grant to recognise the centenary of Bradman’s birth in 2008, has received support from international cricketing bodies, past and present players and the tourism sector.