It would be sacrilegious to even consider comparing any batsman with Don Bradman. He is so far ahead of the rest of the pack that it defies logic. It is fair to say that no sport has witnessed such an extraordinary domination by one player. Bradman made tons of runs, scored them remarkably quickly, was involved in numerous record partnerships and averaged near 100 which is astounding. Before I go further, let me summarise a few of Bradman's outstanding records that are unlikely to be matched, let along bettered.
1. 29 centuries in just 52 matches (80 innings)- 1 hundred per 2.75 innings. Headley comes close with one every four innings (10 in 40).
2. Bradman scored 974 runs in a single series in 1929-30 against England. The closest is Hammond's 905 in the 1928-29 series.
3. His lowest average in a series was 55 in the Bodyline series and that was considered a failure.
4. He was one of the quickest scorers and scored 300 runs in a day.
5. In 1936-37, he scored 270, 169 and 212 as Australia fought back to win the series 3-2 after being 2-0 down.
6. His average is first class cricket is over 95 with 117 centuries in around 234 games. Merchant and Headley average nearly 70 (next best)!!
7. Has a 400 and 300+ stand with Bill Ponsford and a 346 run stand with Jack Fingleton.
8. Lost six of his best years to the World War. You can only imagine what his record might have been otherwise.
9. Led his team called the 'Invincibles' in 1948 to England. Did not lose a single game. Australia piled up 700 in a day against Essex.
10. Scored a century as Australia chased down 404 (then a record chase in Tests)
Ok. before you start thinking what is the objective of my piece, let me tell you that analysing stats is useless unless the context is considered.
As an example, I read CLR James' classic 'Beyond a Boundary'- a highly recommended read. In that book and a couple of others, I came across the point that Bradman was the prime example of a batsman who feasted on bowling in good conditions (read flat tracks) but struggled on the really tough ones (sticky/wet wickets). While it is not possible to establish the nature of the wickets without actually seeing them, I have jus done a brief analysis of how Bradman fared in matches where the team posted less than 300. As it turns out, in 22 such innings, he averages just over 28 with 2 centuries, a far cry from his astronomical career numbers. There can be arguments about how other batsmen failed and the reverse logic of the team failing when he failed. Hobbs and Headley were thought of as better players in tougher conditions and I shall try to establish this with some analysis soon. But at the moment, can I dare suppose that this can be considered the 'Achilles Heel' of the great Don??
Bradman in innings where the team total has been less than 300
43 and 0: vs West Indies
13: vs India
2: vs South Africa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rest vs England
1 and 18
8
0 and 103*
8 and 66
24
71
36 and 13
38 and 0
0
26
103
12
7
Total = 592 in 21 (22 innings and 1 n.o)
Average of 28.2 in innings where Aussies were dismissed for less than 300 shows that he scored when it was lot easier and did struggle when the going was tough.
In a similar context (team scores less than 300), George Headley scored 817 runs at an average of nearly 38 with four centuries. He wasn't known as the 'Black Bradman' for nothing. Hobbs (of 199 FC centuries fame) scored 1639 runs in a similar context at an average of close to 40. I am not sure if this is enough to pass a judgment. That is not my intention anyway, but just an example to show that career figures of any batsman/bowler must be broken down and analysed in greater detail before coming to a conclusion.
Case in point are the stats of Sunny Gavaskar against WI- 12 of his 34 hundreds against them. In matches when Holding/Marshall did not play, he had 6 hundreds at an average over 91. In games they played, he averaged 41. But even the 41 is bloated, because in 20 innings, he scored a 236* and 147* in dead draws. He scored 594 runs in 4 innings and just 151 in the remaining 16 at an average less than 10 and did not pass 20 even once in the 7 innings he was dismissed by Marshall between 1982-83 and 1983-84.
