What would Bradman average if he played in a typical (i.e. neither batsman or bowler favored) period of the modern era (1970 - current)?

[Johan]

the Bodyline series where his average was nearly cut in half, and how he failed on sticky wickets. And I don't disagree. When the mud rose, the bouncers came, and the fielders did their jobs, he was suddenly human. But averaging a hundred on flat decks in a couple of countries is still a herculean task.

No bat in history bar Bradman has averaged more than 45 against bodyline.

 

[Victor Ian]

In the 2000's when batting was easy in Australia and the opposition bowling was crap, Ponting cashed in. So did Hayden. So did Clarke. So did Hussey. They all did.

Why are there not a bevy of Australian batsmen averaging 70+ in Bradman's time? I mean, they only had to play a single opponent and things were just too easy. Bradman did both things in batting that either one of tends to make you great, but appear to be mutually exclusive for everyone else... bat long - and bat quick.

Fielding may be better now, but boundaries are shorter and bats are thicker.

Bowlers still get tired. If the idea that they bowled a spell then became rubbish held any weight, there would be many batsman with Bradman-like averages at the time. Truth is, the balance between bat and ball was still there. The reason why Bradman excelled was because he stayed in and kept scoring runs quickly. Imagine Pujara and Brook's love child.

The only reason Bradman in today's world would not be a phenom is because he may have spent time **** posting on X rather than honing his hand eye coordination.

 

[TheJediBrah]

This shows how much Bradman was better than others in his era. No surprises that majority of the highest batting averages belong to his time period.

View attachment 48750

So compared to Vijay Merchant and George Headley, he was about 30% better in first class cricket ..facing a wide variety of pitches and opponents.

Some shocking arguments being made in this thread. Respect the hustle though

 

[the big bambino]

Getting through timeless tests bowling 70mph isn’t impressive

When I can't back up my opinions I make up **** too. Friend me on facebook.

 

[the big bambino]

Bradman would have improved too, I am certain of it.. But he cannot improve at the pace of his opponents, who showed an exponential growth in numbers. And those numbers improve with technology as Bradman would have done so.

What of the reverse? If they could travel back in time to meet him would his opponents degrade exponentially to sub standard hacks?

 

[GotSpin]

What of the reverse? If they could travel back in time to meet him would his opponents degrade exponentially to sub standard hacks?

Yeah all the best players of that time were just club players

 

[Daemon]

Why is it so difficult to understand that it’s much easier to be an outlier in a sport that is amateur where 1-2 good players exist among a sea of crap? Bizarre that people look at the footage of the day and think it was anything more than european premier league level today. There would be odes written about Pavel Florin if he played back then I’m sure.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Bizarre that people look at the footage of the day and think it was anything more than european premier league level today.

Isn't this like the top echelon of football.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Oh wait you mean cricket

 

[Daemon]

Isn't this like the top echelon of football.

I’m not sure if football has evolved as much as cricket. Overall a very low IQ sport (which explains its popularity) and most fans are equally dim with a tendency towards fanaticism and hooliganism. It’s the Donald Trump or Blackpink of sports.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

I've never seen a worm using a worm before.

 

[Victor Ian]

Why is it so difficult to understand that it’s much easier to be an outlier in a sport that is amateur where 1-2 good players exist among a sea of crap? Bizarre that people look at the footage of the day and think it was anything more than european premier league level today. There would be odes written about Pavel Florin if he played back then I’m sure.

Agree about outliers to a degree, but footage reveals nothing. Have you seen people walk in old footage. They are all high as a kite. A lot to do with frame rates, resolution, etc.
Regarding outliers, perhaps people bunch more to the mean, but Bradman would still be 4 deviations better than average. What's the standard deviation of a batsman today, versus back then? Pavel Who? would still be unknown to me.