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Bradman

BoyBrumby

Englishman
As it's the 96th anniversary of the great man's birth I thought I'd chuck a couple of opinions/gambits out.

Dominance: Is there any other major team sport where its leading practitioner is so far ahead of anybody else? I never saw the little b****** (copyright D.R. Jardine) play, but his stats are just awesome. An average nearly 40 runs better than his nearest rival in the AT list. That's head, shoulders & most of the torso ahead! Why? And why has no one come vaguely close?

Short pitched fast bowling: Or The Don's perceived windiness against it. In an era where even tailenders are treated to a few rib-ticklers to see what they're made of, would he have achieved such a level of dominance? His figures from the 32/33 series certainly don't quite stack up with his overall record. Would he have as been as effective against (say) a Windies attack of Ambrose, Walsh, Marshall & Bishop? Or would today’s (vastly) superior protective equipment meant he hooked & pulled them to all parts?
 

Swervy

International Captain
well in the Body line series he still averaged in the high 50's..its remarkable that that is considered a failure relative to the rest of his career
 

FRAZ

International Captain
Swervy said:
well in the Body line series he still averaged in the high 50's..its remarkable that that is considered a failure relative to the rest of his career
Just curious , No disrespect but just want to be argumentative, Apart from Bradman , Were the other cricketers of Australia of that time were so dumb to know how to play short pitch balls ? And I dont believe that any English bowler of that time would have been touching 80 miles per hour , they just look fast in old black and white ...
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
I can think of one or two people who have achieved 'head and shoulders dominance' for a short while in their chosen field of sport, but they are few and far between.

Mohammad Ali springs to mind, Michael Johnson, Ed Moses and Al Oerter in athletics, Pele in football, Barry John in Rugby Union, but none of those so utterly dominated a sport, not just for the duration of their respective careers but their lifetimes (and in Bradman's case, beyond).

The biggest advance with respect to playing short-pitched bowling now as opposed to 70 years ago is in the development (and wearing) of protective clothing. Bradman had gloves, pads, a box and - at best - a rolled-up newspaper for a thigh guard. This was the era when wicketkeepers had raw steak in their gloves. Oh, he would have had few problems, because he picked up the flight of the ball so quickly and consequently had so much time.

Sure, a genuine rocket would make him jump around - like Larwood did - but with chest guards, arm guards, helmets and the like, he wouldn't have been in mortal danger.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
FRAZ said:
And I dont believe that any English bowler of that time would have been touching 80 miles per hour , they just look fast in old black and white ...
Absolute cobblers.
 

FRAZ

International Captain
luckyeddie said:
Absolute cobblers.
I know it was .. but I was just wondering that may be pulling or hooking shots were not in the text books . And I saw the Tv serial about the Captain of the English Side of that Body line series .. That guy was evil genius.. Any ways Bradman was really a magician , a master act and way above Ali and Pele ... Because cricket requires the mind more than any other sports. Hats off to that wonderful person who gave us some records which will be there as long as test cricket is gonna be played .......
 

Swervy

International Captain
FRAZ said:
I know it was .. but I was just wondering that may be pulling or hooking shots were not in the text books . And I saw the Tv serial about the Captain of the English Side of that Body line series .. That guy was evil genius.. Any ways Bradman was really a magician , a master act and way above Ali and Pele ... Because cricket requires the mind more than any other sports. Hats off to that wonderful person who gave us some records which will be there as long as test cricket is gonna be played .......
if you are talking about that Bodyline series..very entertaining but apparently factually leaves a lot to be desired (I havent seen it for about 20 years)...if you are genuinely interested in it all though read 'Bodyline Autopsy' by David Frith
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Swervy said:
if you are talking about that Bodyline series..very entertaining but apparently factually leaves a lot to be desired (I havent seen it for about 20 years)...if you are genuinely interested in it all though read 'Bodyline Autopsy' by David Frith
Now I think I saw that mini-series (?) back in my long-lost youth.

Wasn't Hugo Weaving (Smith out of Matrix) playing Jardine? As I recall his accent owed more to Sydney than Surrey tho! :D

Has this ever been released on DVD in the Northern Hemisphere?
 

royGilchrist

State 12th Man
Wayne Gretzky in hockey has dominated the sport in a somewhat similar way as Bradman did in cricket. Sergei Bubka (sp?) , or edwan moses, or Jahangir Khan but they were all in individual sports, which is not the same thing as team sports.

A good way to judge this is if that person's domination is such that one ends up saying "this record will not be broken ever". He holds almost all the records in NHL history, and the most important one, total goals, he broke the record of Gordie Howe in I think half the number of games Gordie howe played in.

But, I think I can easily say that Gretzky's records will be broken much earlier than Bradman's average. Also, I think Bradman's credit should be another record, hundreds per match, which will also not be broken ever I think.
 

Swervy

International Captain
i think these are types of records are a lot to do with talent..but also a lot to do with longevity in the sport. Bradmans was different...he only played 50 odd tests...his average is nothing to do with how long he played (which in some ways things like goals scored in a career, or home runs hit, or total tries scored are)...his was purely to do with talent.

By this i mean a batting average isnt something that goes up with poor performances...whereas say goals scored can be...you can score 1000 goals in 200 games and then score one goal in the next 200 games...in the record book 1001 goals is the record...one better than when he was flying in the first 200 games...see what i mean

Bradmans batting average record should be compared to say the 100m sprint record, or baseball batting average, or American football yards per catch, or goals per game in football...that kind of thing...in that way, I think Bradman comes out as one of the most dominant sportsmen in any sport of all time
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
I'm afraid I know the square root of sweet Fanny Adams about ice hockey or field hockey, so I can't really debate about the merits of players from the sports. 8-)

With Pele (Association Football) however, I know otherwise reasonable people who would argue that a certain stumpy Argentine cheat is a better player. Cases could be made for Johann Cruyff or Ferenc Puskas or whoever too. The point is that it is open to debate. I think The Don's average makes hime beyond that. No-one can reasonably claim anyone is or was a better batter.

Looking at baseball, which is the sport that (I guess) has the most similarities with cricket I see Ty Cobb has the leading major league batting average (.366) but his lead over the second guy on the AT list (Roger Hornsby @ .358) can't hold a candle to Don's.
 

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
FRAZ said:
Just curious , No disrespect but just want to be argumentative, Apart from Bradman , Were the other cricketers of Australia of that time were so dumb to know how to play short pitch balls ? And I dont believe that any English bowler of that time would have been touching 80 miles per hour , they just look fast in old black and white ...
There were no leg-side fielding restrictions in at the time so you could stack leg with fielders and bowl short looking for a catch.........which is what caused the uproar. The wickets were also uncovered back in those days I think making things a bit more unpredictable.
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
Some amazing stats.

............................... M I NO Runs HS Avge 100s 50s
Record in matches won 30 43 6 4813 299* 130.08 23 4
Next best - Inzamam... 40 62 12 3785 329 75.70 14 14

6 200s in 3 consecutive series (3 vs 1930 vs England, 1 vs 1930/31 vs West Indies, 2 vs 1931/32 vs South Africa). No one else has more than 3 200s in 3 consecutive series.

............................... 200s Matches Matches per 200
Bradman.................... 12 52 4.33
Hammond.................. 7 85 12.14
Lara......................... 7 106 15.14
Javed Miandad............. 6 124 20.66
MS Atapattu................ 5 71 14.20
R Dravid...................... 5 78 15.50
Zaheer Abbas.............. 4 78 19.50
L Hutton..................... 4 79 19.75
GS Chappell................ 4 87 21.75
CG Greenidge.............. 4 108 27.00
SM Gavaskar.............. 4 125 31.25
 

TendulkarFan

School Boy/Girl Captain
royGilchrist said:
Wayne Gretzky in hockey has dominated the sport in a somewhat similar way as Bradman did in cricket.
I have often wondered this too. But then Lemieux comes to mind and that solves the equation for me. A case could be made that if Lemieux didn't face all those injury issues during his prime, he might have had equivalent # of points, if not more than Gretz. So you "sort-of" have an equivalent of Gretzky in hockey.

royGilchrist said:
A good way to judge this is if that person's domination is such that one ends up saying "this record will not be broken ever". He holds almost all the records in NHL history, and the most important one, total goals, he broke the record of Gordie Howe in I think half the number of games Gordie howe played in.

But, I think I can easily say that Gretzky's records will be broken much earlier than Bradman's average. Also, I think Bradman's credit should be another record, hundreds per match, which will also not be broken ever I think.
Completely agreed. I can't fathom anyone getting close to an average of 100...ever!
 

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