JUST A FEW weeks before his 90th birthday, Sir Donald Bradman lamented about having to finally given up playing golf, his greatness sporting love after cricket.

His scores, he confided, had become an embarrassment to himself and his partners. Some embarrassment! He was still beating his age by regularly shooting 80s, scores that the average golfer would rarely achieve in a lifetime of trying.

The Don's frustration at no longer being able to perform at a level well above the norm, even at nearly 90, gives a rare insight into the driving force that made him the world's greatest batsman.

Remarkably, the intrigue surrounding this most private of cricket legends remains, even half a century after his retirement. And time has enhanced rather than diminishing his greatness.

Then and now: left-arm medium-pacer Ernie Toshack, born 1914

The same can be said of Bradman's Invincibles, the team he led to England to defend the Ashes in 1948. Spending time with the surviving members of that great side has been a rare and precious privilege.

Like whole generations of grubby-faced kids, practising on backyard dirt pitches and hoping one day to wear the baggy green, I grew up on a diet of cricket. I can still recall, as if it were yesterday, creeping out of bed in the cold, early-morning darkness of an Australian winter to catch play in the famous fourth Test of 1948, the sounds coming over the wireless from far-off England, rising and falling like waves on the ocean. I was eight years of age.

Fifty-one years later that teams deeds remain vividly etched in the memory. Only 10 members of the touring party now survive, the oldest being Bradman, now 90, and the youngest Neil Harvey, 70, always referred to as the baby of the team. He was 19 when he toured, a mere lad and a precocious talent.

In spite of the thousands of words written about them, many will take their greatest cricket tales to the grave. At the last count, 34 books had been written about Bradman. You could fill another 34 with his untold stories.

His mind is razor-sharp, his memory uncanny and his reputation for bluntness, when needed, remains intact. After publication of my earlier book, Images of Bradman, a reader was adamant that a photograph was taken in a different year to that identified by Sir Donald. When I raised it with him, The Don`s curt reply was, Tell him I was there, he wasn't.

With the exception of Bradman and Keith Miller, the surviving members of The Invincibles made the most of the year-long celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the 1948 tour, which was also the occasion for my book.

As the team's colourful, larrikin storyteller, Sammy Loxton, said of the celebrations, Some of us still enjoy a drink.

Talking cricket with Sam, who has the looks of a boxer and, one suspects, could still hit a cricket ball with sledgehammer force, is as entertaining as it used to be watching him hit towering sixers, none more famous than the one he hit in the fourth Test in 1948, which sailed back 20 rows and went so high that Neville Cardus wrote he got a crick in the neck watching it go up.

Larrikin storyteller: Sam Loxton, born 1921

`He bowled better than his figures indicated': legspinner Doug Ring, born 1918, has The Don's endorsement

Top Bill Johnston, left-arm quick and team Jester, born 1922 Above/right Batting perfectionist Bill Brown, born 1912

 Keith Miller– once dubbed the Errol Flynn of cricket – these days used a walking frame after debilitating hip operations. He is also missing part of an ear after cancer surgery. The once jet-black hair is a distinguished grey. But, as always, he remains engaging company. Joyous minutes talking cricket with Keith can suddenly turn into joyous hours, his stories enlivened by a ready wit and piercing, mischievous blue eyes. Arthur Morris, Bill Brown, Bill Johnston and the others are no less engaging.

 Miller, like Loxton, still has that famous cavalier streak. You can still see the same old Keith Miller who, after almost being bowled during a wartime services match against England, hit the nearly identical next ball into the grandstand. He then strolled casually down the pitch and said to the dismayed bowler. A better ball that time. But the better the ball the bigger the six.

 Neil Harvey, whose memorable First Test century against England played a major role in helping Australia win the fourth Test, still looks fit enough to wield a bat. Not too many years ago he played in a social match and astounded some-up-and-coming first-grade Sydney bowlers by pounding them to all parts of the ground. His footwork and timing was still impeccable.

`The baby of team': Neil Harvey, born 1928

The camaraderie and mateship that helped make the 1948 side such a close-knit team still exists among the survivors. The fact that most of them served in the forces during the Second World War, where mates looked after mates, even in the face of death, has always been seen as a strong contributing factor behind their success.

The memories of the 1948 tour remain fresh in the minds of the surviving Invincibles. They still pay tribute to their opponents – who included Hutton, Edrich, Compton, Evans, Laker and Bedser– and consider England unlucky not to have won at least one Test, the fourth, when luck went the Australians way through missed chances to dismiss both Bradman and Morris in the second innings

Most of them still watch and enjoy Test cricket, but have mixed views about the one-day game. Bradman admits he would love to have played one-day cricket. Miller, who could have been one of the greatest one-day players of all time if he had come along 40 years later, doesn't even bother to turn on the TV.

The Invincibles would like to have earned the same money as modern-day players, but are scathing about their behaviour on and off the field, especially sledging. South Australian team-mate Ron Hamence answers for him. Bradman, he says, wouldn't have put up with any of these antics in our day.

In their post-playing days, life has been kinder to some than others, but all have carried with them the values honed on the cricket field. It explains why the leg-end of The Invincibles, like the legend of Don Bradman, has grown with time. Their deeds in England all those years ago remain a remarkable and eternal testimony to their skill as cricketers. The fact that their stature has continued to grow pays them further tribute as men.

That fourth Test

 England 496 ( L. Hutton 81, C. Washbrook 143, W. J. Edrich 111, A. V. Bedser 79) and 365–8 dec ( Hutton 57, Washbrook 65, Edrich 54, D. C. S. Compton 66, T. G. Evans 47*, W. A. Johnston 4–95);

 Australia 458 ( K. R. Miller 58, R. N. Harvey 112, S. J. E. Loxton 93, R. R. Lindwall 77) and 404–3 ( A. R. Morris 182, D. G. Bradman 173*).

 Australia won by 7 wkts.

 England suffered from their decision to omit left-arm spinner Jack Young, as Compton had to lead the attack on the final day. Even then, they should have won, but Evans missed stumping chances off Morris and Bradman during their 301-run stand. Earlier, Bedser made his highest Test score after going in as nightwatchman, and Harvey hit a century in his First Test in England.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd