Page "Culture of Australia" Paragraph 207

Successful cricket players become major and often long lasting celebrities in Australia.

Sir Donald Bradman, who made his Test debut in the 1928-29 series against England, remains a household name as the greatest batsman the game has ever known and a byword for sporting excellence.

Bradman retired in 1948 but was later knighted for services to cricket and given a state funeral upon his death in 2001.

Other figures from the game – such as Richie Benaud, Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne – remain household names despite having retired years or decades ago.

Internationally, Australia has for most of the last century sat at or near the top of the cricketing world.

The Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer altered the traditionalist ethos of the game in the 1970s, inventing World Series Cricket from which have evolved many aspects of the various modern international forms of the game.