I said it suited me. 'You batted very well in this game,' he said, 'but not quite as an opener. You were looking for runs all the time. I think what you want to watch as an opener is not getting out ... What is needed from my openers, and is most important, is patience and plenty of it.' I was completely willing to be guided by anything that Bradman wanted me to do. Years later, Barnes wrote about the effect this had on his batting style. There was one angle about this change of batting position that didn't appeal to me. I am, by nature, a forcing batsman. I like to take the shine out of a bowler [sic] and I love to hear the ball rattling the pickets, or soaring over the fence ... My footwork was quick and I often caused delight by stepping back feet outside the leg stump and square-cutting ... If I were to become an Australian Test opening batsman I would have to conform to standard. I would have to put up the shutters ... And so I came to the Second Test in Sydney ready to drape myself in the gloomy colors of a Test opening batsman. It was during the Second Test at Sydney in December 1946, that Barnes made a lasting impression on the world game. Having opened the innings, he made his top Test score of 234 and helped to set a world-record 405 run fifth wicket partnership with Don Bradman, a record that still stands today. On a rain-affected pitch Arthur Morris was out at 1/24 and Ian Johnson came out as a nightwatchman He and Barnes angered the crowd by launching into a series of bad light appeals – up to 12 were counted – before the umpires gave way and play was ended with an hour to spare. This ensured that Australia would not have to play on a sticky wicket and allowed Bradman to rest his leg until play resumed on the Monday. After the series Barnes said on radio: We could have played on, but it was a Test match and we just had to win. I realised something drastic had to be done or three wickets might be lost. So I appealed after every second ball. I complained of the people moving about, the light, and, in fact, anything, in an effort to