A left arm slow bowler, born at Pleasley Hill on 3 October 1913. Following a trial at Trent Bridge in August 1934, Bradley was engaged on the Notts staff the following year. In his first Club & Ground games (Notts were not in the Minor Counties Championship at the time) he took 3-5 v Notts Forest and then 5-20 v Notts Amateurs. Against Derbyshire Seconds he picked up another five wickets. However his First-Class debut did not come until 1937, when he played in the Bank Holiday fixture at The Oval, his bowling was expensive, Bradley consistently overpitching. In the following game at Canterbury versus Kent, Bradley had career best figures of 4-116 off 22 overs.
1938 saw him take 42 wickets at 12.40 for the Seconds but Bradley only played a solitary First-Class fixture at Aylestone Road, Leicester. In the final pre-war season Bradley played in three early season First-Class fixtures, his last game for Notts being versus Kent at Trent Bridge on 20, 22 and 23 May. In nine First-Class games for Notts, Bradley took 19 wickets @41.10 and scored 30 runs @6.00.
During the Second World War he appeared in ten county matches, but with no notable successes, his 12 wickets costing 28.50 runs each. He was not re-engaged on the staff in 1946. A miner by occupation, he played local cricket for Bilsthorpe and Sutton collieries. He resided at Stanton Hill and latterly in Mansfield, where he died in 2001.
April 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 364
See James Bradley's career stats here