By Ian Neubauer

Hugh Jackman will host a black-tie event at Sydney’s Westin Hotel on August 27 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sir Donald Bradman’s birth.

Organised by Cricket Australia, the 500-person capacity event will bring together Sydney’s business community and cricketing luminaries Alan Border, Mark Taylor and Ricky Ponting, who will speak about Bradman and his own rise to the captaincy of the Australian Cricket Team.

Cricket Australia corporate events manager, Prue Thomspon, said the event has been eight months in the making and promoted through ads in The Australian and The Australian Financial Review as well as through database mail outs.

“Getting Hugh Jackman was not too difficult because he is a friend of cricket,” she said. “What was hard was getting confirmation in the timing of the event because he was in the middle of filming at the time. We are delighted to have him. It is fantastic.” 

Thomspon said the event has several objectives.

“Firstly it is to promote cricket and strengthen our presence and brand in Sydney. Cricket Australia is based in Melbourne so it is always helpful to do events in Sydney market. But really its just a celebration of Sir Donald Bradman and what he means to Australia, to embody the spirit in which he played the game and his iconic status beyond the realm of cricket.”

Tickets to the Sir Donald Bradman Centenary Dinner are $495 per person or $4950 for a table of ten. For more information call 02 9439 3434 or click here.