Boycott and John Snow pay tribute to Sir Donald Bradman

London, February 26: England cricket legend Geoff Boycott on Monday paid tribute to Sir Donald Bradman, who died on Sunday at the age of 92.

Boycott, now a respected radio pundit, said: "His career is summed up by the fact he was very consistent — I think that's the key to it. When he did get in, he made big hundreds. He was greedy — and that's how you should be. He had a phenomenal rate of scoring, much quicker than anyone else.

Boycott added: "I met him first in 1965 when Mike Smith captained us in Australia. "I got sick in Adelaide. I was quite ill — they carried me off the field and took me to the hospital.

"Sir Don came to see me in the hospital and he brought me a book. He signed it and chatted to me for a while — I was flattered that he'd bothered to come and see me as a young kid.

"I think the interesting thing about him is that he was the greatest batsman, basically throughout cricket — and yet he was a very private man.

"When he was captain, he used to like his privacy. He'd go to his room and write a letter or listen to a record.

"Today, you think how the game has progressed. Players have to do so many interviews — the media wants you. And yet here, the greatest batsman ever was able to keep a certain amount of privacy."

Another former England favourite, pace bowler John Snow, described Bradman as "a cricket icon all over the world, full stop".

Snow said: "When you think of cricket, you think of WG Grace and Donald Bradman. "I met him when I played over there in 1970-71 for the first time, and he was a very modest man. You would have not thought he'd achieved anything very much really."

Snow believed Bradman broke the mould in terms of leg-side play. He added, "I may be wrong but I think he was probably the first player that actually started to play the ball on the leg side a lot.

"All the fields tended to be set in the old style, on the off side. He was a great worker of the ball.

"He was also a successful businessman, a brilliant administrator, a scratch golfer, and a pianist as well. He was a multi-talented man."