Leonard Stuart Darling (14 August 1909 – 24 June 1992) was an Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played in 12

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

from 1933 to 1937. Darling once told a story of fielding on the boundary at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

and positioning himself to catch a big hit from

Don Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has bee ...

. While the ball was still in the air, according to Darling, the crowd yelled at him to drop the catch. This occurred in Bradman's last innings for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in 1934. Darling did in fact take the catch to end Bradman's innings. Bradman was out for 128, with him hitting three sixes in the over, and getting caught while trying to hit his fourth. Len Darling married his wife Phyllis ("Bobby") in 1937. They had two daughters. He served in the Australian Army with the 24th Australian Anti-Aircraft Battery in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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* 1909 births 1992 deaths Australia Test cricketers Victoria cricketers Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers Australian cricketers Cricketers from Melbourne People educated at Trinity Grammar School, Kew Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers People from South Yarra, Victoria Military personnel from Melbourne {{Australia-cricket-bio-1900s-stub