The official memorial service for the late Sir Donald Bradman will be a national event in Australia this evening.

The service will be held one month to the day after Sir Donald, widely acknowledged as the greatest cricketer Australia and possibly the world has ever seen, passed away in his Adelaide home on February 25 at the age of 92.

St Peter's Cathedral in Adelaide will be packed for an invitation-only service commencing at 7pm Adelaide time (0930GMT). Presided over by the Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide, the Most Reverend Ian George, the service will be attended by approximately 650 guests, including the Governor-General of Australia, Sir William Deane, the Prime Minister, John Howard, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, South Australian premier John Olsen and former state premier John Bannon.

Five of Bradman's team-mates in the 1948 Australian team are expected to attend, including Bill Johnston, Neil Harvey, Doug Ring, Sam Loxton, and Ron Hamence.

Former Australian captains Richie Benaud, Bill Lawry, Greg Chappell and Graham Yallop will be in attendance. The current Australian team is in India and will be engaged in a one-day international in Bangalore while the 75-minute service is in progress.

West Indian batting greats Sir Everton Weekes and Sir Vivian Richards will be in attendance, along with former Indian and New Zealand captains Mansur Ali Khan (formerly the Nawab of Pataudi) and Walter Hadlee. The Sports Australia Hall of Fame, of whom Bradman was one of the inaugural inductees, will be represented by tennis legend Neale Fraser and track and field Olympic gold medallist Marjorie Jackson.

Sir Donald's son, John, will deliver a speech, followed by family friend Jill Gauvin. Richie Benaud will speak on Sir Donald's sporting achievements and Sir William Deane will deliver a speech entitled "Donald Bradman - The Man of the People".

Sir Donald's grand-daughter Greta will sing, as will the Adelaide Chamber Singers, of whom she is a member. Her brother Tom will recite a poem. Well-known country singer John Williamson will close the service by performing his 1996 composition, "Sir Don".

Tens of thousands of people are expected to flock into the Adelaide Oval, which is adjacent to St Peter's Cathedral, where the service will be shown on giant video screens. The Sydney Cricket Ground will also be open to the public with the service shown on its giant scoreboard video screen.

The memorial service will be televised live in Australia on the ABC, Sky News Australia and Fox Sports Two from 7pm Adelaide time (7.30pm in eastern Australia, 0930GMT). Star Sports will be televising the service live in India from 3pm IST. Channel Nine, who are providing the broadcast facilities for the service, will show a replay later in the evening following their regular Sunday prime-time programming. The ABC are also broadcasting the event on radio and will be webcasting live (abc.net.au).

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd