Australian team wakes up to get the most unexpected shock

Mumbai, February 26: The touring Australian cricket team awoke here on Monday to the news that one of their sport and their nation's greatest icons, Sir Donald Bradman, was dead.

"He was a once-in-a-lifetime player," said Australian skipper Steve Waugh, who was one of a select few players to meet Bradman in his latter years.

"His mind was very, very alert," he said. "He had his views on cricket and was quite pleased with the way the game is going."

Waugh said that his wife phoned him from Australia to tell him the news at 2.15 am local time in Mumbai, where the team is gearing up for the series-opening Test against India starting Tuesday.

Waugh said the death of the man regarded widely as the greatest-ever batsman could inspire Australia in pursuit of its first series win in India since 1969-70.

The Australians would continue the three-Test Indian tour as planned and play the first Test as a tribute to Bradman, who was described last year by Australian Prime Minister John Howard as a national treasure.

Bradman, 92, died on Sunday at his home in the southern Australian city of Adelaide! He had recently been released from hospital, where he was admitted last year with pneumonia.

Bradman was revered in Australia and throughout the cricketing world as much for his brilliant batting as for his fair play. "His death could also lift international cricket out of the doldrums in the wake of the match-fixing scandal," Waugh said.

"It's been a tough couple of years for world cricket. May be, this is a wake up call for all the people who are playing cricket to play for the right reasons and to look towards the future of the game rather than just to their own needs," he said. "I think that has probably been the cause of the downfall of the game. It's an important time for cricket."

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne and Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar both met Bradman to celebrate his 90th birthday.

Warne said Bradman's passing marked a sad day for all Australians. "Sir Don has been a great icon for Australia, for cricket ... for everything," he said. "Anybody who had the opportunity to meet him (regarded him) as a great fella. My sympathy goes out to his family." Warne said anybody who had heard of cricket had heard of Don Bradman, who retired in 1948 with the unrivaled Test average of 99.94 per innings.

Tendulkar, who Bradman rated as the batsman of the modern era most like himself, said meeting the aged Australian was an honor and an experience he'd treasure forever.

“His death is a great loss for all cricket fans,” Tendulkar said. "I'm sure one doesn't need to speak a lot about what he achieved ... no one can compare with him."