If you are a cricket fan, you know of Don Bradman. Even if he played way before you were born. He is an icon of the sport. I'm not a Baseball fan but I know Babe Ruth, not an Ice Hockey fan but know of Wayne Gretsky. Any soccer fan would at least know of Pele. His record is likely never to be broken.
Brian Lara's test average was 52.9,and Bradman's was 99.9,so there's really no contest here. Bradman was twice as good as anyone else ever was or probably ever will be. A freak of nature. I thoroughly recommend the 80's TV mini-series Bodyline which covers all of the important moments of Bradman's career. It's still good viewing today.
Standard deviation is probably the best measure. And by that Donald Bradman is out front (4.4). Pele is second (3.7), Ty Cobb (3.6), Jack Nicklaus (3.5) and Michael Jordan (3.4) fill out the top 5.
Rob, junior Cricket (In Australia) is sponsored by Milo. The original person who advertised Milo (photo on the label) was Don Bradman. Every kid since has wanted to emulate him and maybe one day make it to the label on the Milo tin! The two things that got a lot of Australians through the Depression was Don Bradman and a race horse called Phar Lap. Sport is a big motivator in Australia, much like recently when it was so important to keep the Footy going through COVID.
Fun fact My grade 6 teachers grandfather was the inverter of Milo 😅lol always told us he hated that it didn't mix all the way in cold milk, but couldn't change it without changing the taste
So glad you checked out Bradman Rob - absolute Legend on the field, miserable git in person; he retired and lived in Adelaide after his cricket life, met him a number of times.
I remember reading an article back in about 1990 In it there were a group that were clearly trying to establish that Muhammid Ali was the greatest sportsman the world had ever seen. In it, they were trying to establish the criteria that would cement Ali as the greatest ever. Pele was one of the sportsmen that he was up against, and surprisingly Bradman was another. I say 'surprisingly' because the group that was in charge of this agenda was American, and it is unusual for the yanks to take any notice of what goes on outside their shores, particularly if it is a sport that they do not participate in or have heard very little if at all anything about. What I remember the article saying was that 'judging Ali by x method would not work because Pele was better than him using that criteria. And, judging him by how much better he was compared to all of his contemporaries would rule him out as Bradman was almost twice as good as second best in his field, and no other sport boasted an entity that compared to their contemporaries to that degree. In the end they came to the conclusion that the only way that they could assert that Ali was the greatest sportsman of all time was that he was the only one that made predictions and then followed through with the appropriate action to make the prediction real. I can only say that Bradman was a true phenomenon. And I agree that Ali and Pele were also.
The public reaction to the deliberate aim of bodyline bowling to strike the batsman was vociferous. There were threats made against Larwood in particular, and even suggestions that Australia should sever ties with Britain. Yes, it might sound fanciful, now, but 80 or so years ago, bodyline was a profound shock, and could have destroyed Test Cricket and seen Australia a republic.
Back in the day without helmets and the body padding that they now wear, it was very dangerous as well. Larwood didn’t have much choice though, not only did he have to follow the orders of his Captain (Jardine) he was also only a “player” (which meant he got paid and was essentially an employee) not a “Gentleman” (no pay, just the honour and the glory). That’s why you still sometimes see on old scoreboards and in the change rooms etc the delineation of “Gentlemen” and “Players”. They were separated formally by class, not exactly a good formula for team cohesion. This division did not happen in the Australian team, they were all equally paid.......quite badly😁🇦🇺. Then along came Kerry Packer and the rest is history. “ The Don” doesn’t fair very well in that part of the story. No-one, however, can dismiss his prowess as a truely great sportsman.
The threats weren't aimed at Larwood and Voce they were much more aimed at Douglas Jardine who was hated by Australians but to be honest he didn't care.
Sir Don Bradman, the English absolutely loved him aswell. Yes as child sir don was spoken about alot, dont know how many kids know about sir don these days unless cricket is in the family blood. Sir Don & his wife never missed a test match right up to the day he died. Yes the Australian team was good back then but they also did win off the back of Sir Don. RIP Sir Donald Bradman🇦🇺
2:25 Not only was he hitting a small ball with a thin stick, but the combination of a round ball, a round stick (the stump) and th rounded target ie the water tank, to just get 2 hits without it shooting off at some ridiculous angle is unbelievable.
Corrugated tank so was using the sold part of the water tank. Such hand-eye co-ordination & he faced the deadly bodyline by the English cricket team. No helmets in those days only guts & skills to hit the ball around the oval. Bradman took his hat off to Tandulkar as a worthy batsman.
A recording i have of one of his later speeches explained that he started with a flat wall and a piece of balsa, moved to a stick when the balsa failed, went to the tank when the wall got easy, and picked up the bat when he hit a hundred.
@@roseknightmare Bloody amazing talent he had & remained so humble all his life. I can compare this to Neil Armstrong - first man on the moon. He never big noted himself after what he & the others did in 1969. Buzz Aldrin was a bit more open but remained the same.
Fun Fact: Bradman’s widely regarded as the greatest sportsperson the world has ever seen. His career test match batting average of 99.94 is almost double that of most other greats of the game, many all time greats average around the 50 mark. The next highest in the history of the game after Bradman is 60. To put it in perspective of dominance in sport, Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the greatest sportsperson of the modern era, averaged 30 points a game. Jordan would’ve needed to average over 55 points a game to be considered as dominant in Basketball as Bradman was over his peers in cricket.
@@XaviRonaldo0 Yes. What’s that got to do with my comment? Are you claiming Gretzky averaged more runs per innings than Don Bradman or that he averaged more points per game than Michael Jordan???
@@XaviRonaldo0 That’s a subjective opinion. What I said, is Jordan is “widely regarded as the greatest”. So why the irrelevant condescending smart arse reply that is in no way refutes what I said? What did I say that’s factually incorrect that required that response? Or do you not know what the term “widely regarded” means??? Did you not graduate grade 5???
@@joshkleine21 Jordan isn't even close to the unanimous GOAT (or greatest sportsman). While Gretzky is almost unanimously the GOAT of hockey. Only Mario Lemieux has any claim if he didn't have health issues. Gretzky is by far and away better statistically than any other and certainly in North American sportsman and he is the most dominant statistically. - he has more ASSISTS than anybody else has total points. - he is the ONLY player to score 200 points in a season and did it FOUR times. - he also holds the record for most goals ever and leads that by 93 with only one person with a realistic chance of breaking it anytime soon - holds the record for fastest player to 50 goals in a season
@@rollyrolly7729 I didn't say he was. Outside of Australia no one knows about Phar Lap or cares probably, and if you asked who or what they might guess something like that. On the other hand Don Bradman's name is well known.
I had heard of him before moving to Australia, as my Dad was a Yorkshire man, and loved his cricket, also soccer, and tennis. This did teach me more, but not my husband. He was an outstanding man, loved that he had a great marriage.🤗👍❤
Bradman required 4 runs in his last innings to attain an average of 100. He missed it, so his average is 99.94. Next highest is in the low 60s, and Alan Border and Brian Lara in the low 50s. Today's batsmen look at 50 as a good score, a good batsman would regard an average of 50 as wonderful, so an average of 99.9 is little short of incredible. WW2 robbed him of 5 years scoring when at his prime. Oh! what might have been? Is he the best? I would think so.
You missed out Gary Sobers (57.8) and Ken Barrington (58.7) entirely in that assessment. Also bear in mind that the Don thought that Sobers played the finest innings he had seen; 254 vs Australia.
The "needed 4 runs to attain an average of 100" is a bit misleading. The fact is - his average BEFORE that final innings was 101.39. Had he made 4 runs AND been not out, he'd have finished with a 100 average. Had he made 4 runs & been out, he'd have averaged 98.59. His numbers - from just 52 tests - 80 innings are just insane
Definitely most aussies have heard of Don Bradman, there's an Oval named after him in one of my favourite country towns, BOWRAL in the southern highlands, along with a museum in his honour...
I’m only a casual cricket fan but it’s my understanding that the “Australia vs An English County” thing remains fairly common to this day, but was probably even more important back in Bradman’s time. When a team does a long tour of another country I think quite often they set up what is essentially a ‘friendly’ with a county/state team when they first arrive so that they can acclimatise and prepare without any pressure. That county team might still have a few of the players that will be representing the country in the proper tour so it’s not a total cakewalk, but there’s no stakes. I believe it’s still done today but maybe not so much. But if you think about back in the early days. If Australia toured England, they would probably need to spend a month on a ship to get over there so of course they’d want to take some time to play some practice matches against county teams before competing properly for any actual stakes
Growing up these games always happened and would be at least 4 days and would be 2 or 3 of them which I always thought was good preparation now your lucky if it's there is 2 two day games and about 14/15 a side(only 11 fielding at once for those who might wonder) which I don't think is good preparation and England generally start off tours poorly. Not sure if it's the same for other teams now.
When visiting teams played in Australia they would play State teams in 4 day matches, warm up games prior to the Test match held in that city. Today's tight cricket schedules prohibit hardly any extra matches, maybe one at the start of a tour. I remember seeing the West Indies playing a Tasmanian Invitational Eleven in a one day match in Devonport Tas. back in 1979. Joel Garner hit a six from the far end, cleared the velodrome encircling the ground, the ball was still on the way up when it hit the top back wall of the grandstand. What a hit!
@@blueycarlton We also usually have the Prime Minister’s 11, which is usually young, up and coming, players chosen by the PM to play the touring team, usually at Manuka Oval in Canberra. Other lovely locations/venues for warm-up games (especially if they don’t get a Test Game in their State) are Lilac Hill in Western Australia and Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
They weren't friendlies; they were competitive games in front of big crowds. If the Don was playing you could guarantee a sell-out and it also gave the home players a chance to impress in front of the selectors. Who wants a 'gentle friendly' to prepare for a test series? These days they don't have the time for proper acclimatisation which is one of the reasons it is so difficult to beat home teams in conditions the visitors are unaccustomed to playing in.
The touring sides that included Bradman were variable. On his final tour in 1948 it was a terrific squad "the Invincibles", stuffed with batting and bowling talent, that uniquely remained unbeaten throughout the tour. Some of the sides from 1930 to 1938 were dependent on Bradman and two or three others for support runs and for great bowlers like Clarrie Grimmett and Bill 'Tiger' O'Reilly to bowl sides out. If Bradman had never happened then during that period Wally Hammond of England would have been recognised as the finest player in the world but virtually all his test career was in the shadow of Bradman.
He was the captain of “ The Invincibles” in the 1948 tour of England where the. Australians were undefeated.That was a legendary team. Look up Keith Miller who was an AFL footballer, all round cricketer, playboy, fought in the Battle of Britain as a fighter pilot. Has the best definition of pressure. Look up Paul Kelly song Bradman. Bradman’s grand daughter, Greta is an Opera star.
If a football player ever comes along,and scores a hat trick in pretty much every game,he'd then be the Bradman of Football. Bradman was some sort of freak,who cannot be compared to any of his peers.
In years past, probably until Kerry Packer created his alternative cricket competition, cricketers were not well paid. Bradman was an employee and played cricket part time - he was not a millionaire like today's cricketers. Yes he came to notice at the right time publicity-wise, but he also lifted the spirits of a very economically depressed country as my mother once told me.
Our Don Bradman, He was more than just a batsman, Untie Dotty danced with Donald Bradman, said it was the highlight of her life. Arthur Morris was living in Cessnock and being interviewed said he was there when Bradman got out for a duck in his last innings, where was he they asked, at the bowlers end, he was his partner, got 179 not out, nobody remembers that when Don got a duck
@11:30 His 1948 team was called "The Invincibles". His team mates scored triple centuries too, but without the consistency of The Don. I had not heard the story of his matches with Walter Lindrum; that was new, but not hard to believe.
No Australians scored a triple hundred in Tests before Bradman, 'during' Bradman's career and not until Bobby Simpson made 311 in 1964, after his retirement. The one player who was a prolific run amasser in Australian First-class cricket before and during Bradman's career was Bill Ponsford who compiled 13,819 at 65.18 (in tests 2,122 at 48.22).
Absolutely yes! I knew about Bradman in the UK in my teens. First class cricket is the level below test cricket. It is in Australia the Plunked Shield, or in England the County Championship, matches are played over 3 or more days and is considered a higher form of the game than limited over matches.
Bradman is to cricket what Pele or Maradona are to football; what Muhammad Ali is to boxing; what Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods are to golf; what Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic are to tennis; what Michael Jordan is to basketball - although he's probably superior (statistically at least) to all of those other guys. Dominance of a sport never seen before or since anywhere in the world.
In the olden days the cricket and rugby tours to other countries lasted up to 3 months, with matches against county/provincial/state teams between test matches. Many of these matches were played by the "dirt trackers", the fringe players. In those days players would become Springboks, All Blacks or Wallabies by touring even though they weren't capped as test players. England officially toured as the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club), not as England, and the MCC flag was flown at matches
International touring sides always played games against First-class opposition: the Counties in England, the State sides in Australia, the Islands in the West Indies, provincial sides in South Africa and etc. Tours were long and these games were a chance to acclimatise, get players into form, 'show the flag' to outlying areas and they were big sporting occasions for the local that attracted big crowds and generated considerable receipts to help finance tours. On Bradman's first tour in 1930, the Australians, from April 30th to September 12th, played 31 games, including 5 tests, 20 County games (twice against Yorkshire, Surrey and Lancashire) and then six against the MCC, Oxford and Cambridge Unis, Scotland, and two other representative sides at the Scarborough festival. It is only in the recent modern era where International schedules are so crowded that tours are much shorter, usually involve fitting in three different cricket formats and are largely funded by broadcasting rights, that most of the games outside internationals games are no more although on full tours like the Ashes there will be a 'minimum' number of games against counties or representative sides.
I’m not a cricket fan either Rob. But being an Aussie I have heard of him and how good he was. But I learned so much about him from the vid that I didn’t know. He sounded like a lovely humble man, even comparing weather, he wasn’t picking, just stating the difference. Even King George shook his hand, he must have been well respected back then. A great old Video indeed and the fact someone wrote a song about him, yes I’ve heard that. A great review from you, your comments very interesting as well.
Great reaction Rob, Bradman was and is a hero to many cricketers years after his death. It would be phenomenal to watch someone match his feats, alas I reckon I will be long gone before that happens.
5:55 1st class = State v State, or in the UK it is County v County. 1 step below International. EDIT: Also includes Test cricket. Country v County (or State) no longer happens much due to scheduling. But in those days they spent weeks at sea travelling so they were used as warm-up, training and acclimatisation. There was also no T20 or One Day cricket to use. It was only multi-day cricket.
at around 5 mins when you talk about luck, you've paused on a scoreboard showing NSW first innings score of 235, the other batsman on 22 and Bradman on 452 not out... Sure the media of the 30s helped, but Bradman legitimately scored more runs than anyone had thought possible. Imagine a soccer player who, at International level, consistently scored twenty goals per match. And won games for his side of 18 to 2, 20 to 1 and one match scoring 40. THAT'S the comparison.
13:21 At work we have a four-table billiard parlour and one of those tables is commemorated with a plaque identifying it as one of many tables where the famous Walter Lindrum breaks exceeded 1000.
Did you know the first Australian cricket team to tour in England were Aboriginal. They did so in 1868 and they were recognised in the Australian Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 for their contribution to sport. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_cricket_team_in_England_in_1868
I can't help but imagin that deep down The Don knew that 99.94 would be viewed more legendary that 100..... Its says he WAS indeed human, but he was as close to a GOD as you could possibly be.... Long live The Don
There was an American sports scientist that did a study on all the greats from each sporting code worldwide ever to have lived, and Bradman comes at as the best sportsman of all time by a long way
My husband loved sport. Pretty much all sport. But as an Aussie, he especially loved AFL and cricket. He was passionate about his mighty 'Pies, but he always said that as a game, he preferred cricket for the strategy involved. The action is superseded by the mind games and I would often hear him talking to our boys when they were captaining a team about the strategies to employ with their players, the opposition players and the game as a whole. As for your Pele comment about taking out the man, one of my sons had to give up AFL due to a chronic shoulder dislocation caused mainly by the opposition players targeting him. He was tall and red headed and the last instruction before they ran down the race was always, "the lanky 'ranga', left shoulder." and I would just wait for the phone call from the ED. My dad was also a sport nutter and I remember him talking of The Don. Another thing The Don was lucky in was a long life. He outlived my dad by 30 years.
Bowral is a lovely part of the world, just south of Sydney in the highlands. The movie 'Babe' was filmed around the area as it looks very much like the English countryside.
To give this a little perspective - Bradman played with crap equipment - next to no coaching as we know nowadays - on uncovered wickets ( could be affected by wet weather ) and is almost 40 runs better per innings than any other test cricketer in history - in a relatively amateur era His record is amazing - in this case statistics can tell the whole story
Bradman is the greatest ever. He averaged 99 runs per innings the closest anyone else has got is 63 I think, somewhere around that number. Remember he didn’t have the equipment of today, bats that were basically pieces of wood with a handle compared with today were they are massive thick bats that edges can go for 6.
No real luck in it Rob....just a once in a lifetime player, gifted and much like his contemporary in another sport, the great Walter Lindrum of billiards fame. Both were so much standouts that rules were invented, at least for Walter, to stop his progress. As to Donald, the English invented leg-theory (bodyline), which was to pitch the bowling attack at or near the line of leg stump with the field set appropriately to stop the flow of runs. This was in the 1932-1933 series. It is remarkable though, that despite this, Donald Bradman's batting record at 99.94 remains 30 points ahead of what any batsman has achieved since. Now that is something you don't see often in sport but you do see this in musicianship....it is called 'mastery'.
Technically Bradman was born in Cootamundra, a country town in NSW, roughly halfway between Sydney and Melbourne. The home he was born in is a museum now. He moved to Bowral when he was 2 or 3. (My mum was born in Coota and there's also a type of wattle named after there too!) The Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame is in Bowral and a really interesting place to visit.
My God, you have never heard of Sir Don. Batting average of 99.94 over 17 years in the day they travelled internationally by ship. The greatest batsman who has ever lived.
With regards to Australia playing against county teams - back in Bradman's era - a tour to England lasted 5 months & games against the counties was a regular part of the tour. The 1948 tour to England by "The Invincibles - 5 Test matches 21 matches against county teams - 2 matches against University teams - 2 against Scotland - 1 vs an MCC team - 1 vs the "Gentlemen of England" 1 vs a combined "South of England" team 1 vs an invitational HDG Leveson-Gower's XI 122 playing days in 144 days
You should also consider looking up videos about Phillip Hughes, a legendary Aussie batsman who was killed by a fast bowl back in 2004. Everyone left cricket bats outside their doors for a week as a mark of respect.
I'm English and I would say anyone who followed cricket of my father's generation, my generation and the following generation know about Bradman. In a discussion about the greatest batsmen most would start at no. 2 and work down from there; there's no point debating no.1 (unless you are of an Indian generation that wants to argue about Tendulkar but though they may be showing admirable loyalty they are way off).
The Australian cricket team in Bradman's era was actually very good. The team during Bradman's final tour of England in 1948 won the Ashes series 4-0 (4 wins, 1 draw) and were called 'the Invincibles'.
You should look at the Bodyline series against the Poms in the 30s. There is supposedly a urban myth that Gerade was called a bastard by an Aussie cricketer. and when he confronted Bradman in the changing rooms his response was "which one of you bastard called this bastard a bastard a bastard.
It's difficult to compare players from different eras. One thing we can say is that Sir Don obviously had good hand-eye coordination. The bodyline series in 1932-33 was pretty nasty, when you consider that players didn't have helmets for head protection, only a cap/hat. An interesting pointer to his playing style is that Don Bradman only hit six sixes in his Test career.
True dat. The Don was the master at *placing* the ball, more so than *hitting* the ball. Many less sixes hit back in that era by anyone compared to the modern era. The bats didn't have nearly the same edge thickness, mass, weight or sweet spot as they do today (a 41oz bat today has the same performance of a 48oz bat back then) ... AND there were no boundary ropes shortening the fields. You had to clear the fence at the MCG regardless of where the playing pitch was set up on the centre square.
It's really easy to get caught up in the statistics and lose sight of the people, the athletes, that make up a game. I didn't see Bradman play, but I've watched Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Viv Richards, Ian Botham, Shane Warne, and a zillion others. All brilliant. Celebrate them all.
First class cricket is the county or state cricket level. Test level is international matches. It used to be more common that touring international teams used to play the first class teams in the country they're touring. Just to give you a perspective, back in the days of Bradman, they never covered the pitches, so if it rained, the pitch would be soggy and hard to play. They also had 8 ball overs. England created the bodyline tactics just to counter his ability. The rest of his team was awesome.
I so love Don Bradman, such a great example of an "Australian bloke"! He was extraordinary compared to any other athlete, he grew up in the back of nowhere, there was probably no club or coach at all, he was a "once in a lifetime" athlete! Other people do know him, in India that's for sure, he compares to Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara!! In England tough Ashes Tests and "Bodyline" made him very famous! A small man who is an absolute shining example of the Australian "never give up" spirit! A country man's attitude to honesty, weather and hard work!! Only cheating slowed him down! 👍
Newspapers front pages just said 'He's in' then a few days later, 'He's out'. Neath in Wales would play against countries all the time in Rugby Union, nearly won against Australia and New Zealand, did win against Fiji
In his era , he not only carried his bat , but our whole country and even some of yours . Times were tuff and not much to look forward to . Obviously King George knew what he was worth to the people .
Bowral is a gorgeous town, we went to see Bradman’s house there once. There was a miniseries I enjoyed in the 80s called Bodyline about Bradman’s life & that particularly vicious bowling tactic used back in the 30s to aim at him to force him to defend. People were so outraged at how dangerous it was that it almost caused a diplomatic incident between Aus & England back then. I had a laugh when Bradman was going on there about the English weather too, he didn’t hold back 😂. It was also funny how he turned the interviewer into a valet, handing him all his gear as he put his jumper on and the interviewer just went along & did it without missing a beat. 😂
Just another little story - my best friend at school’s grandfather was in Bradman’s 1948 Invincibles team and when we were kids he went back to England for a special anniversary and I remember us all going through all the lovely memorabilia and souvenirs he brought back. Lovely old gent of the era :)
The English certainly knew of Don Bradman, Douglas Jardine was captain of England in the Ashes tour of Australia in 1932-33, and knew how good Bradman was, they decided to use the bodyline tactic to try and nullify Bradman's brilliance. Harold Larwood the English fast bowler was used for the purpose of intimidating Bradman by bowling AT the batsman in the hope of taking his wicket. Bradman is a superstar in all cricketing countries, and his kind will never come again. You say without radio and newspapers and media of the time popularising his talent he would not have been well known, wouldn't you say that about Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer, Peli, Brian Lara, Louis Hamilton etc whom without publicity would not have been well known as well. Bradman had a very good batting team alongside him, Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford and Sam McCabe were all very good batsman it was just Bradman was another level above them. And finally you mention is Lara the best batsman of all time? you have to remember, Lara played in an era where wickets were covered when it rained, and in Bradman's day they didn't have protection such as helmets extra body padding and the like that they do now..........
First class i believe is the level we play before being called up to the international team to play for our country. Playing for state teams (victoria, new south wales, queensland etc).
The tragedy that only some Australians know about is the fact there was another young cricketer around The Don's age named Archie Jackson. He had better batting averages through his pre-first class career. When Archie was selected to play for Australia in the 1928-29 Ashes series when The Don was also selected, Archie scored 164 in his maiden test at 19 years old. He died of TB only 23 years old. Can you imagine any team with two prodigies at the same time. Ill health spoiled that possibility. Damn.
Rob, anyone who knows even a little of cricket will have heard of Bradman. 1st class is the top tier of cricket below internationals - so state teams in Australia or counties in England & Wales. When national teams go on tour, they often play 1st class teams (Worcestershire v Australia for example) in preparation for the international matches. This is less common now, when the team can fly in and out easily, but was necessary in the past when they would arrive having been on a ship for possibly months and would be on tour for most of the summer.
1st class cricket is top flight. International and the next tier down (county or Sheffield Shield in Aus). You still see international teams playing county teams or the equivalent elsewhere in the world today as a warm-up today before the test series proper. Every country in the world has different conditions, and the pitches play differently. It's why the home team as such a massive advantage because they're used to the pitches. It allows the touring team to become slightly more accustomed to the conditions. Bradman's team he played with was phenomenal as well, the team was nicknamed the invincibles. it's just Bradman was so much better than anyone else.
A First class cricketer is someone who plays for their state (in Australia) or county in England. They play against other states/counties and is considered second best behind international cricket (generally very good cricketer). Countries do play against first class sides as warm up games, practice games before they play against countries.
Bradman was a remarkable all round sportsman. Not just the greatest cricketer (greatest sportsman I'd argue) that ever lived, he also reputedly played golf off scratch, was considered a good enough tennis player to be thought about for the Davis cup squad, beat the snooker world chapion, Horrace Lindrum, at snooker by making a maximum break of 147, was a first class piano player and entertaining after dinner speaker. I'm not clear how he went at 10 mt diving or cross country skiing, but Im pretty sure he would have mastered those sports too, if he had wanted to.
Was like last Ashes it was Smith & Cummins v England to retain the Ashes in England & Steve's Smith's record during the last Ashes, the Ashes before & the 2 Ashes before that show that Steve Smith is this era's Bradman.
In the cricket world Sir Donald Bradman is the Pele and Maradona rolled into one, statistically he's by far the greatest cricketer ever. Anyone who's into cricket would know exactly who Sir Donald Bradman is. It's like asking football fans if they know who Pele and Maradona is. I just googled it, cricket is apparently the second most supported sport in the world behind football, apparently 2.5 billion people follow cricket. For it to be a "first class cricket" match, it has to be an internal cricket council sanction match at test cricket level either at the highest domestic level or in an international match, basically to use a football context, its basically like playing an EPL match or for the England national team in a tournament not a friendly. Not a reaction recommended, just a song you might find interesting, it's Paul Kellys song titled "Don Bradman". ua-cam.com/video/hjZHfEIEJ54/v-deo.html
Australian often played county cricket to acclimatise and give locals a chance to see a international game. Same as England played states when they came to Australia.
First class is the step below test cricket. So, county cricket in England or state cricket in Australia etc. Tour matches (which are national teams against first class teams) are also considered only first class despite featuring a test nation. 7:00 back then they used to have a months long tour with many tour matches. Nowadays a team will only play 1 or 2 tour matches.
Totally agree with your analogy of the relationship between Don Bradman and his wife. Like you Rob I know at times I can be opinionated and out of line. I love that my beautiful missus can put me in my place gently and make me see reason. We compliment each other and support each other. She is the other very important half of us.glad to see some one else who feels the same about their partner
1st class is best players of the state or county. Then you have club cricket and social. When players travelled to England, not like to day on a flight for 24 hours but weeks on a ship they needed to play practice matches to retune their games, so they play a few county sides. This still happens and when England comes down under later this year they will play a few matches against the state sides before competing against Australia. It is a chance for those in the county/state sides to push their claim for selection in the country side by showing how well they perform against the tourists.
1. 1:09 Don Bradman is generally recognised as the greatest batsman to have ever lived. You've got 1 billion Indians, plus rest of the cricketing world that 100% know 'The Don'. I'm sure he's know to other sports fans the world over as well, purely for his statistical dominance. 2. 5:54 'First Class' cricket is a specific standard of cricket. It's generally the highest level of domestic cricket, and some other matches are also given First Class status. It also includes Test cricket, the highest standard of cricket. County Cricket in the UK is considered First Class. 3. 6:57 In those days, and even through much of the 20th C, national touring teams would 'tour' a country for at least a couple of months. They'd play usually 5 Tests against the national team, and then many other first class matches against local teams in preparation for the Tests. Initially, these tours relied on transport via ship, so it made more sense to stay a little longer than a day or two! But this practice still happens today. Australia will often play 1 or 2 matches against County teams during an Ashes tour. 4. 21:19 It's very difficult to compare players across different eras, but just consider this stat: Brian Lara's average at the end of his career was 52.9.... Bradman's was 99.94 (almost double!!) Bradman is such a statistical outlier, that his average is by far the highest standard deviation above the mean for any major stat across any sport, ever. His batting average is nearly 39 runs higher than the next best (to have batted more than 20 times). Check out the 'World sport context' section of his Wikipedia page for more info on that... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bradman#World_sport_context
An American journalist did a write up on Bradman , calling him the greatest sportsman ever, citing his records and average of 99.94, in reply to a write up on an American sportsman who was aclaimed as the greatest ever by the American sportswriters, much to the amazenent of an Aussie sportswriter
He was not always particularly popular with teammates partly because of the level of adulation and special attention he received but also he was not what you would call a really sociable team man; he was not keen on joining in with evenings in the bar with the team preferring to be in his room.
If you are a cricket fan, you know of Don Bradman. Even if he played way before you were born. He is an icon of the sport. I'm not a Baseball fan but I know Babe Ruth, not an Ice Hockey fan but know of Wayne Gretsky. Any soccer fan would at least know of Pele. His record is likely never to be broken.
Totally agree.
Ditto for golf’s Arnold Palmer…
@@zwieseler Don't know him, only know Greg Norman from the past. I do know of those other names mentioned though.
Brian Lara's test average was 52.9,and Bradman's was 99.9,so there's really no contest here.
Bradman was twice as good as anyone else ever was or probably ever will be.
A freak of nature.
I thoroughly recommend the 80's TV mini-series Bodyline which covers all of the important moments of Bradman's career.
It's still good viewing today.
99.94
I remember that series it was brilliant. Sadly it destroyed so many lives.
Anyone who follows cricket worldwide HAS heard of Bradman. Come on international cricket fans fess up
Era or media coverage does not come into it.
It is his Test batting average of 99.94 that is almost twice as good as any player before or after.
Standard deviation is probably the best measure. And by that Donald Bradman is out front (4.4). Pele is second (3.7), Ty Cobb (3.6), Jack Nicklaus (3.5) and Michael Jordan (3.4) fill out the top 5.
They have done statistical analysis and Don Bradmans achievements are sooooo far greater than any other great sportsman in their particular sports
Yes……. And no. There was another guy with a better record…… another Australian of course. His name was Walter Lindrum. Look him up.
Rob, junior Cricket (In Australia) is sponsored by Milo. The original person who advertised Milo (photo on the label) was Don Bradman. Every kid since has wanted to emulate him and maybe one day make it to the label on the Milo tin!
The two things that got a lot of Australians through the Depression was Don Bradman and a race horse called Phar Lap. Sport is a big motivator in Australia, much like recently when it was so important to keep the Footy going through COVID.
Fun fact My grade 6 teachers grandfather was the inverter of Milo 😅lol always told us he hated that it didn't mix all the way in cold milk, but couldn't change it without changing the taste
He is phenomenally well known and beloved on the Sub continent
God forbid...can you imagine the idolisation from those supporters if he was playing with his stats in the modern day?
So glad you checked out Bradman Rob - absolute Legend on the field, miserable git in person; he retired and lived in Adelaide after his cricket life, met him a number of times.
This assessment tallies totally with Ian Chappells
Ian Chappell's opinion mirrors all of Bradmans former teammates.
Chappellis opinion mirrors that of Bradmans Catholic team mates. Australia was a different place in those days,and The Don was a prodestant
Sir Don Bradman is greatest sports man ever born in this world . His record will be unbeatable in cricket for ever .
I remember reading an article back in about 1990 In it there were a group that were clearly trying to establish that Muhammid Ali was the greatest sportsman the world had ever seen. In it, they were trying to establish the criteria that would cement Ali as the greatest ever. Pele was one of the sportsmen that he was up against, and surprisingly Bradman was another. I say 'surprisingly' because the group that was in charge of this agenda was American, and it is unusual for the yanks to take any notice of what goes on outside their shores, particularly if it is a sport that they do not participate in or have heard very little if at all anything about. What I remember the article saying was that 'judging Ali by x method would not work because Pele was better than him using that criteria. And, judging him by how much better he was compared to all of his contemporaries would rule him out as Bradman was almost twice as good as second best in his field, and no other sport boasted an entity that compared to their contemporaries to that degree. In the end they came to the conclusion that the only way that they could assert that Ali was the greatest sportsman of all time was that he was the only one that made predictions and then followed through with the appropriate action to make the prediction real. I can only say that Bradman was a true phenomenon. And I agree that Ali and Pele were also.
The public reaction to the deliberate aim of bodyline bowling to strike the batsman was vociferous. There were threats made against Larwood in particular, and even suggestions that Australia should sever ties with Britain. Yes, it might sound fanciful, now, but 80 or so years ago, bodyline was a profound shock, and could have destroyed Test Cricket and seen Australia a republic.
larwood moved to australia.
Well explained. I could see Rob had no idea just how insidious bodyline was at the time.
Back in the day without helmets and the body padding that they now wear, it was very dangerous as well.
Larwood didn’t have much choice though, not only did he have to follow the orders of his Captain (Jardine) he was also only a “player” (which meant he got paid and was essentially an employee) not a “Gentleman” (no pay, just the honour and the glory).
That’s why you still sometimes see on old scoreboards and in the change rooms etc the delineation of “Gentlemen” and “Players”. They were separated formally by class, not exactly a good formula for team cohesion.
This division did not happen in the Australian team, they were all equally paid.......quite badly😁🇦🇺.
Then along came Kerry Packer and the rest is history. “ The Don” doesn’t fair very well in that part of the story. No-one, however, can dismiss his prowess as a truely great sportsman.
The threats weren't aimed at Larwood and Voce they were much more aimed at Douglas Jardine who was hated by Australians but to be honest he didn't care.
@@perarduaadastra7648 you left out a big chunk of cricket history there. Amateur status ended in 1962, fifteen years before Kerry Packer came along.
Sir Don Bradman, the English absolutely loved him aswell. Yes as child sir don was spoken about alot, dont know how many kids know about sir don these days unless cricket is in the family blood.
Sir Don & his wife never missed a test match right up to the day he died. Yes the Australian team was good back then but they also did win off the back of Sir Don.
RIP Sir Donald Bradman🇦🇺
2:25 Not only was he hitting a small ball with a thin stick, but the combination of a round ball, a round stick (the stump) and th rounded target ie the water tank, to just get 2 hits without it shooting off at some ridiculous angle is unbelievable.
Corrugated tank so was using the sold part of the water tank. Such hand-eye co-ordination & he faced the deadly bodyline by the English cricket team. No helmets in those days only guts & skills to hit the ball around the oval. Bradman took his hat off to Tandulkar as a worthy batsman.
A recording i have of one of his later speeches explained that he started with a flat wall and a piece of balsa, moved to a stick when the balsa failed, went to the tank when the wall got easy, and picked up the bat when he hit a hundred.
@@roseknightmare Bloody amazing talent he had & remained so humble all his life. I can compare this to Neil Armstrong - first man on the moon. He never big noted himself after what he & the others did in 1969. Buzz Aldrin was a bit more open but remained the same.
Fun Fact: Bradman’s widely regarded as the greatest sportsperson the world has ever seen. His career test match batting average of 99.94 is almost double that of most other greats of the game, many all time greats average around the 50 mark. The next highest in the history of the game after Bradman is 60.
To put it in perspective of dominance in sport, Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the greatest sportsperson of the modern era, averaged 30 points a game. Jordan would’ve needed to average over 55 points a game to be considered as dominant in Basketball as Bradman was over his peers in cricket.
You never heard of Wayne Gretzky?
@@XaviRonaldo0 Yes. What’s that got to do with my comment? Are you claiming Gretzky averaged more runs per innings than Don Bradman or that he averaged more points per game than Michael Jordan???
@@joshkleine21 I'm saying that he was more of a GOAT than Jordan
@@XaviRonaldo0 That’s a subjective opinion. What I said, is Jordan is “widely regarded as the greatest”. So why the irrelevant condescending smart arse reply that is in no way refutes what I said? What did I say that’s factually incorrect that required that response? Or do you not know what the term “widely regarded” means??? Did you not graduate grade 5???
@@joshkleine21 Jordan isn't even close to the unanimous GOAT (or greatest sportsman). While Gretzky is almost unanimously the GOAT of hockey. Only Mario Lemieux has any claim if he didn't have health issues. Gretzky is by far and away better statistically than any other and certainly in North American sportsman and he is the most dominant statistically.
- he has more ASSISTS than anybody else has total points.
- he is the ONLY player to score 200 points in a season and did it FOUR times.
- he also holds the record for most goals ever and leads that by 93 with only one person with a realistic chance of breaking it anytime soon
- holds the record for fastest player to 50 goals in a season
Don Bradman is one of two at the top of the Australian pedestal. The other one is Phar Lap. The two of them are idolised in Australian folklore
Hmmm? How many people heard of Phar lap and know it was a horse rather than a Thai immigrant who dominated Australian boxing for two decades?
@@joyfulzero853 Phar Lap wasn't named after a Thai immigrant boxer. Every Australian knows who Phar Lap is
@@joyfulzero853 never heard of the boxer everyone knows who phar lap is
@@rollyrolly7729 I didn't say he was. Outside of Australia no one knows about Phar Lap or cares probably, and if you asked who or what they might guess something like that. On the other hand Don Bradman's name is well known.
@@lach6288 They don't outside Australia, unlike Don Bradman, which is the point I was making.
I had heard of him before moving to Australia, as my Dad was a Yorkshire man, and loved his cricket, also soccer, and tennis. This did teach me more, but not my husband. He was an outstanding man, loved that he had a great marriage.🤗👍❤
Bradman required 4 runs in his last innings to attain an average of 100. He missed it, so his average is 99.94. Next highest is in the low 60s, and Alan Border and Brian Lara in the low 50s. Today's batsmen look at 50 as a good score, a good batsman would regard an average of 50 as wonderful, so an average of 99.9 is little short of incredible. WW2 robbed him of 5 years scoring when at his prime. Oh! what might have been? Is he the best? I would think so.
You missed out Gary Sobers (57.8) and Ken Barrington (58.7) entirely in that assessment. Also bear in mind that the Don thought that Sobers played the finest innings he had seen; 254 vs Australia.
The "needed 4 runs to attain an average of 100" is a bit misleading.
The fact is - his average BEFORE that final innings was 101.39.
Had he made 4 runs AND been not out, he'd have finished with a 100 average.
Had he made 4 runs & been out, he'd have averaged 98.59.
His numbers - from just 52 tests - 80 innings are just insane
Definitely most aussies have heard of Don Bradman, there's an Oval named after him in one of my favourite country towns, BOWRAL in the southern highlands, along with a museum in his honour...
That Oval is across the road from his childhood home
Donald was a great cricketer ‘he could take on any side’
I’m only a casual cricket fan but it’s my understanding that the “Australia vs An English County” thing remains fairly common to this day, but was probably even more important back in Bradman’s time.
When a team does a long tour of another country I think quite often they set up what is essentially a ‘friendly’ with a county/state team when they first arrive so that they can acclimatise and prepare without any pressure. That county team might still have a few of the players that will be representing the country in the proper tour so it’s not a total cakewalk, but there’s no stakes. I believe it’s still done today but maybe not so much. But if you think about back in the early days. If Australia toured England, they would probably need to spend a month on a ship to get over there so of course they’d want to take some time to play some practice matches against county teams before competing properly for any actual stakes
Growing up these games always happened and would be at least 4 days and would be 2 or 3 of them which I always thought was good preparation now your lucky if it's there is 2 two day games and about 14/15 a side(only 11 fielding at once for those who might wonder) which I don't think is good preparation and England generally start off tours poorly. Not sure if it's the same for other teams now.
When visiting teams played in Australia they would play State teams in 4 day matches, warm up games prior to the Test match held in that city. Today's tight cricket schedules prohibit hardly any extra matches, maybe one at the start of a tour. I remember seeing the West Indies playing a Tasmanian Invitational Eleven in a one day match in Devonport Tas. back in 1979. Joel Garner hit a six from the far end, cleared the velodrome encircling the ground, the ball was still on the way up when it hit the top back wall of the grandstand. What a hit!
@@blueycarlton We also usually have the Prime Minister’s 11, which is usually young, up and coming, players chosen by the PM to play the touring team, usually at Manuka Oval in Canberra. Other lovely locations/venues for warm-up games (especially if they don’t get a Test Game in their State) are Lilac Hill in Western Australia and Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
They weren't friendlies; they were competitive games in front of big crowds. If the Don was playing you could guarantee a sell-out and it also gave the home players a chance to impress in front of the selectors.
Who wants a 'gentle friendly' to prepare for a test series? These days they don't have the time for proper acclimatisation which is one of the reasons it is so difficult to beat home teams in conditions the visitors are unaccustomed to playing in.
I'm an Indian & I know Don Bradman...Every cricket fan knows.
The touring sides that included Bradman were variable. On his final tour in 1948 it was a terrific squad "the Invincibles", stuffed with batting and bowling talent, that uniquely remained unbeaten throughout the tour. Some of the sides from 1930 to 1938 were dependent on Bradman and two or three others for support runs and for great bowlers like Clarrie Grimmett and Bill 'Tiger' O'Reilly to bowl sides out.
If Bradman had never happened then during that period Wally Hammond of England would have been recognised as the finest player in the world but virtually all his test career was in the shadow of Bradman.
He was the captain of “ The Invincibles” in the 1948 tour of England where the. Australians were undefeated.That was a legendary team. Look up Keith Miller who was an AFL footballer, all round cricketer, playboy, fought in the Battle of Britain as a fighter pilot. Has the best definition of pressure. Look up Paul Kelly song Bradman. Bradman’s grand daughter, Greta is an Opera star.
Nugget was my Dad's hero.
He was everything that Bradman wasn't off the field.
Something about a Messerschmidt up your a...?😂
I believe he flew Mosquito aircraft (one of the fastest aircraft of the war).
If a football player ever comes along,and scores a hat trick in pretty much every game,he'd then be the Bradman of Football. Bradman was some sort of freak,who cannot be compared to any of his peers.
In years past, probably until Kerry Packer created his alternative cricket competition, cricketers were not well paid. Bradman was an employee and played cricket part time - he was not a millionaire like today's cricketers. Yes he came to notice at the right time publicity-wise, but he also lifted the spirits of a very economically depressed country as my mother once told me.
Our Don Bradman, He was more than just a batsman, Untie Dotty danced with Donald Bradman, said it was the highlight of her life. Arthur Morris was living in Cessnock and being interviewed said he was there when Bradman got out for a duck in his last innings, where was he they asked, at the bowlers end, he was his partner, got 179 not out, nobody remembers that when Don got a duck
@11:30 His 1948 team was called "The Invincibles". His team mates scored triple centuries too, but without the consistency of The Don.
I had not heard the story of his matches with Walter Lindrum; that was new, but not hard to believe.
No Australians scored a triple hundred in Tests before Bradman, 'during' Bradman's career and not until Bobby Simpson made 311 in 1964, after his retirement. The one player who was a prolific run amasser in Australian First-class cricket before and during Bradman's career was Bill Ponsford who compiled 13,819 at 65.18 (in tests 2,122 at 48.22).
Absolutely yes! I knew about Bradman in the UK in my teens.
First class cricket is the level below test cricket. It is in Australia the Plunked Shield, or in England the County Championship, matches are played over 3 or more days and is considered a higher form of the game than limited over matches.
The Plunket Shield is the First class championship in New Zealand. The First class equivalent in Australia is the Sheffield Shield
@@joyfulzero853 you are correct, happy to be corrected😊
Bradman is to cricket what Pele or Maradona are to football; what Muhammad Ali is to boxing; what Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods are to golf; what Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic are to tennis; what Michael Jordan is to basketball - although he's probably superior (statistically at least) to all of those other guys. Dominance of a sport never seen before or since anywhere in the world.
fucking spot on man, im 43 now seen some of the modern greats come and go they might say brady nfl now to but nothing can compare to BRADMAN
Bradman and luck, two words not often found in the same sentence.
In the olden days the cricket and rugby tours to other countries lasted up to 3 months, with matches against county/provincial/state teams between test matches. Many of these matches were played by the "dirt trackers", the fringe players. In those days players would become Springboks, All Blacks or Wallabies by touring even though they weren't capped as test players. England officially toured as the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club), not as England, and the MCC flag was flown at matches
I am not a cricket fan… but certainly remember Don, and admired him as sportsman.
"Was Sir Donald George Bradman the greatest batsman in history?"
That isn't a question, it's simply a fact.
International touring sides always played games against First-class opposition: the Counties in England, the State sides in Australia, the Islands in the West Indies, provincial sides in South Africa and etc. Tours were long and these games were a chance to acclimatise, get players into form, 'show the flag' to outlying areas and they were big sporting occasions for the local that attracted big crowds and generated considerable receipts to help finance tours.
On Bradman's first tour in 1930, the Australians, from April 30th to September 12th, played 31 games, including 5 tests, 20 County games (twice against Yorkshire, Surrey and Lancashire) and then six against the MCC, Oxford and Cambridge Unis, Scotland, and two other representative sides at the Scarborough festival.
It is only in the recent modern era where International schedules are so crowded that tours are much shorter, usually involve fitting in three different cricket formats and are largely funded by broadcasting rights, that most of the games outside internationals games are no more although on full tours like the Ashes there will be a 'minimum' number of games against counties or representative sides.
I’m not a cricket fan either Rob. But being an Aussie I have heard of him and how good he was. But I learned so much about him from the vid that I didn’t know. He sounded like a lovely humble man, even comparing weather, he wasn’t picking, just stating the difference. Even King George shook his hand, he must have been well respected back then. A great old Video indeed and the fact someone wrote a song about him, yes I’ve heard that. A great review from you, your comments very interesting as well.
Great reaction Rob, Bradman was and is a hero to many cricketers years after his death. It would be phenomenal to watch someone match his feats, alas I reckon I will be long gone before that happens.
5:55 1st class = State v State, or in the UK it is County v County. 1 step below International. EDIT: Also includes Test cricket. Country v County (or State) no longer happens much due to scheduling. But in those days they spent weeks at sea travelling so they were used as warm-up, training and acclimatisation. There was also no T20 or One Day cricket to use. It was only multi-day cricket.
I'm pretty sure first class is also test
@@jordanmckchicken3865 yes you're right. I'll correct it. Thank you
at around 5 mins when you talk about luck, you've paused on a scoreboard showing NSW first innings score of 235, the other batsman on 22 and Bradman on 452 not out...
Sure the media of the 30s helped, but Bradman legitimately scored more runs than anyone had thought possible.
Imagine a soccer player who, at International level, consistently scored twenty goals per match. And won games for his side of 18 to 2, 20 to 1 and one match scoring 40. THAT'S the comparison.
13:21 At work we have a four-table billiard parlour and one of those tables is commemorated with a plaque identifying it as one of many tables where the famous Walter Lindrum breaks exceeded 1000.
Did you know the first Australian cricket team to tour in England were Aboriginal. They did so in 1868 and they were recognised in the Australian Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 for their contribution to sport. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_cricket_team_in_England_in_1868
I can't help but imagin that deep down The Don knew that 99.94 would be viewed more legendary that 100.....
Its says he WAS indeed human, but he was as close to a GOD as you could possibly be....
Long live The Don
There was an American sports scientist that did a study on all the greats from each sporting code worldwide ever to have lived, and Bradman comes at as the best sportsman of all time by a long way
My husband loved sport. Pretty much all sport. But as an Aussie, he especially loved AFL and cricket. He was passionate about his mighty 'Pies, but he always said that as a game, he preferred cricket for the strategy involved. The action is superseded by the mind games and I would often hear him talking to our boys when they were captaining a team about the strategies to employ with their players, the opposition players and the game as a whole.
As for your Pele comment about taking out the man, one of my sons had to give up AFL due to a chronic shoulder dislocation caused mainly by the opposition players targeting him. He was tall and red headed and the last instruction before they ran down the race was always, "the lanky 'ranga', left shoulder." and I would just wait for the phone call from the ED.
My dad was also a sport nutter and I remember him talking of The Don. Another thing The Don was lucky in was a long life. He outlived my dad by 30 years.
the team back then for Australia was a very good team, it was just that Don Bradman was on a whole other level, no one came close.
I am not English. I am not Australian. Yes. I have heard of Sir Don. He is to cricket what Joe DiMaggio is to baseball.
More like Ted Williams, such was his batting average.
He was a freak of nature amongst a team of stars, invincible.
A truly great Australian.....we love Don!! Check out Bodyline, a method of bowling devised to beat Don Bradman....a great story!
Bowral is a lovely part of the world, just south of Sydney in the highlands. The movie 'Babe' was filmed around the area as it looks very much like the English countryside.
To give this a little perspective - Bradman played with crap equipment - next to no coaching as we know nowadays - on uncovered wickets ( could be affected by wet weather ) and is almost 40 runs better per innings than any other test cricketer in history - in a relatively amateur era
His record is amazing - in this case statistics can tell the whole story
Bradman is the greatest ever. He averaged 99 runs per innings the closest anyone else has got is 63 I think, somewhere around that number. Remember he didn’t have the equipment of today, bats that were basically pieces of wood with a handle compared with today were they are massive thick bats that edges can go for 6.
Steve Smith is up in the 60's & we haven't played test cricket in a very long time
Body line almost caused a rift between GB and Australia
No real luck in it Rob....just a once in a lifetime player, gifted and much like his contemporary in another sport, the great Walter Lindrum of billiards fame. Both were so much standouts that rules were invented, at least for Walter, to stop his progress. As to Donald, the English invented leg-theory (bodyline), which was to pitch the bowling attack at or near the line of leg stump with the field set appropriately to stop the flow of runs. This was in the 1932-1933 series. It is remarkable though, that despite this, Donald Bradman's batting record at 99.94 remains 30 points ahead of what any batsman has achieved since. Now that is something you don't see often in sport but you do see this in musicianship....it is called 'mastery'.
Excellent comment!
I could hardly believe that you did not know Don Bradman! Possibly the world's GREATEST sports person.
Technically Bradman was born in Cootamundra, a country town in NSW, roughly halfway between Sydney and Melbourne. The home he was born in is a museum now. He moved to Bowral when he was 2 or 3. (My mum was born in Coota and there's also a type of wattle named after there too!) The Bradman Museum & International Cricket Hall of Fame is in Bowral and a really interesting place to visit.
Paul Kelly’s song Bradman is worth a listen. Great tribute.
I'm not a cricket fan, but I'm aware of Bradman. I think I first heard of him in a discussion of statistics, because he stands out so much.
My God, you have never heard of Sir Don. Batting average of 99.94 over 17 years in the day they travelled internationally by ship. The greatest batsman who has ever lived.
The Big Bash is about to start in Australia, - I hope you react to the highlights of some matches? (Plenty of poms will play too!) ✌️😄
With regards to Australia playing against county teams - back in Bradman's era - a tour to England lasted 5 months & games against the counties was a regular part of the tour.
The 1948 tour to England by "The Invincibles -
5 Test matches
21 matches against county teams -
2 matches against University teams -
2 against Scotland -
1 vs an MCC team -
1 vs the "Gentlemen of England"
1 vs a combined "South of England" team
1 vs an invitational HDG Leveson-Gower's XI
122 playing days in 144 days
You should also consider looking up videos about Phillip Hughes, a legendary Aussie batsman who was killed by a fast bowl back in 2004. Everyone left cricket bats outside their doors for a week as a mark of respect.
The greatest of all time
I'm English and I would say anyone who followed cricket of my father's generation, my generation and the following generation know about Bradman. In a discussion about the greatest batsmen most would start at no. 2 and work down from there; there's no point debating no.1 (unless you are of an Indian generation that wants to argue about Tendulkar but though they may be showing admirable loyalty they are way off).
No his team were good. He was just superhuman
They were known as The Invincibles.
The Australian cricket team in Bradman's era was actually very good. The team during Bradman's final tour of England in 1948 won the Ashes series 4-0 (4 wins, 1 draw) and were called 'the Invincibles'.
First class cricket is basically the best of the best, like what you see with the Ashes series and such
You should look at the Bodyline series against the Poms in the 30s. There is supposedly a urban myth that Gerade was called a bastard by an Aussie cricketer. and when he confronted Bradman in the changing rooms his response was "which one of you bastard called this bastard a bastard a bastard.
It's difficult to compare players from different eras. One thing we can say is that Sir Don obviously had good hand-eye coordination. The bodyline series in 1932-33 was pretty nasty, when you consider that players didn't have helmets for head protection, only a cap/hat. An interesting pointer to his playing style is that Don Bradman only hit six sixes in his Test career.
Bradman considered it a poor shot if the ball travelled in the air any where near a fielder.
To paraphrase The Don: Don't hit it in the air & you can't be caught out.
True dat. The Don was the master at *placing* the ball, more so than *hitting* the ball. Many less sixes hit back in that era by anyone compared to the modern era. The bats didn't have nearly the same edge thickness, mass, weight or sweet spot as they do today (a 41oz bat today has the same performance of a 48oz bat back then) ... AND there were no boundary ropes shortening the fields. You had to clear the fence at the MCG regardless of where the playing pitch was set up on the centre square.
It's really easy to get caught up in the statistics and lose sight of the people, the athletes, that make up a game. I didn't see Bradman play, but I've watched Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath, Viv Richards, Ian Botham, Shane Warne, and a zillion others. All brilliant. Celebrate them all.
First class cricket is the county or state cricket level. Test level is international matches. It used to be more common that touring international teams used to play the first class teams in the country they're touring.
Just to give you a perspective, back in the days of Bradman, they never covered the pitches, so if it rained, the pitch would be soggy and hard to play. They also had 8 ball overs.
England created the bodyline tactics just to counter his ability. The rest of his team was awesome.
I so love Don Bradman, such a great example of an "Australian bloke"! He was extraordinary compared to any other athlete, he grew up in the back of nowhere, there was probably no club or coach at all, he was a "once in a lifetime" athlete! Other people do know him, in India that's for sure, he compares to Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara!! In England tough Ashes Tests and "Bodyline" made him very famous! A small man who is an absolute shining example of the Australian "never give up" spirit! A country man's attitude to honesty, weather and hard work!! Only cheating slowed him down! 👍
Newspapers front pages just said 'He's in' then a few days later, 'He's out'. Neath in Wales would play against countries all the time in Rugby Union, nearly won against Australia and New Zealand, did win against Fiji
In his era , he not only carried his bat , but our whole country and even some of yours . Times were tuff and not much to look forward to . Obviously King George knew what he was worth to the people .
I know what you are trying to convey but of course he didn't carry his bat because, technically, only openers can do that.
Bowral is a gorgeous town, we went to see Bradman’s house there once. There was a miniseries I enjoyed in the 80s called Bodyline about Bradman’s life & that particularly vicious bowling tactic used back in the 30s to aim at him to force him to defend. People were so outraged at how dangerous it was that it almost caused a diplomatic incident between Aus & England back then.
I had a laugh when Bradman was going on there about the English weather too, he didn’t hold back 😂. It was also funny how he turned the interviewer into a valet, handing him all his gear as he put his jumper on and the interviewer just went along & did it without missing a beat. 😂
Just another little story - my best friend at school’s grandfather was in Bradman’s 1948 Invincibles team and when we were kids he went back to England for a special anniversary and I remember us all going through all the lovely memorabilia and souvenirs he brought back. Lovely old gent of the era :)
The English certainly knew of Don Bradman, Douglas Jardine was captain of England in the Ashes tour of Australia in 1932-33, and knew how good Bradman was, they decided to use the bodyline tactic to try and nullify Bradman's brilliance. Harold Larwood the English fast bowler was used for the purpose of intimidating Bradman by bowling AT the batsman in the hope of taking his wicket. Bradman is a superstar in all cricketing countries, and his kind will never come again. You say without radio and newspapers and media of the time popularising his talent he would not have been well known, wouldn't you say that about Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer, Peli, Brian Lara, Louis Hamilton etc whom without publicity would not have been well known as well. Bradman had a very good batting team alongside him, Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford and Sam McCabe were all very good batsman it was just Bradman was another level above them. And finally you mention is Lara the best batsman of all time? you have to remember, Lara played in an era where wickets were covered when it rained, and in Bradman's day they didn't have protection such as helmets extra body padding and the like that they do now..........
First class is state cricket and it is a test match well that is what it is in Australia
They both came a long time before Pele, it was something new.
First class i believe is the level we play before being called up to the international team to play for our country. Playing for state teams (victoria, new south wales, queensland etc).
First-class cricket includes international test cricket and domestic 4 day cricket
The tragedy that only some Australians know about is the fact there was another young cricketer around The Don's age named Archie Jackson. He had better batting averages through his pre-first class career. When Archie was selected to play for Australia in the 1928-29 Ashes series when The Don was also selected, Archie scored 164 in his maiden test at 19 years old. He died of TB only 23 years old. Can you imagine any team with two prodigies at the same time. Ill health spoiled that possibility. Damn.
I did the same thing with hitting a ball against a wall only with a tennis racket.
Rob, anyone who knows even a little of cricket will have heard of Bradman.
1st class is the top tier of cricket below internationals - so state teams in Australia or counties in England & Wales.
When national teams go on tour, they often play 1st class teams (Worcestershire v Australia for example) in preparation for the international matches. This is less common now, when the team can fly in and out easily, but was necessary in the past when they would arrive having been on a ship for possibly months and would be on tour for most of the summer.
Many sportsmen today would do well,to learn a thing or two about humility from the late,great Sir Don
Hand's down the greatest batsman/cricketer, close to twice as good as next best Tendulkar or Lara lol his hand eye coordination was super human
A cricket stump is cylindrical so you need to hit it PERFECTLY
1st class cricket is top flight. International and the next tier down (county or Sheffield Shield in Aus). You still see international teams playing county teams or the equivalent elsewhere in the world today as a warm-up today before the test series proper. Every country in the world has different conditions, and the pitches play differently. It's why the home team as such a massive advantage because they're used to the pitches. It allows the touring team to become slightly more accustomed to the conditions.
Bradman's team he played with was phenomenal as well, the team was nicknamed the invincibles. it's just Bradman was so much better than anyone else.
A First class cricketer is someone who plays for their state (in Australia) or county in England. They play against other states/counties and is considered second best behind international cricket (generally very good cricketer). Countries do play against first class sides as warm up games, practice games before they play against countries.
There's a plaque to Don Bradman in a shopping centre in Hastings, U.K. - not sure why
Bradman was a remarkable all round sportsman. Not just the greatest cricketer (greatest sportsman I'd argue) that ever lived, he also reputedly played golf off scratch, was considered a good enough tennis player to be thought about for the Davis cup squad, beat the snooker world chapion, Horrace Lindrum, at snooker by making a maximum break of 147, was a first class piano player and entertaining after dinner speaker. I'm not clear how he went at 10 mt diving or cross country skiing, but Im pretty sure he would have mastered those sports too, if he had wanted to.
Fun fact our national broadcaster the ABC has a postal address of GPO Box 9994 in your capital city out of respect to Donald Bradman.
Was like last Ashes it was Smith & Cummins v England to retain the Ashes in England & Steve's Smith's record during the last Ashes, the Ashes before & the 2 Ashes before that show that Steve Smith is this era's Bradman.
In the cricket world Sir Donald Bradman is the Pele and Maradona rolled into one, statistically he's by far the greatest cricketer ever. Anyone who's into cricket would know exactly who Sir Donald Bradman is. It's like asking football fans if they know who Pele and Maradona is. I just googled it, cricket is apparently the second most supported sport in the world behind football, apparently 2.5 billion people follow cricket.
For it to be a "first class cricket" match, it has to be an internal cricket council sanction match at test cricket level either at the highest domestic level or in an international match, basically to use a football context, its basically like playing an EPL match or for the England national team in a tournament not a friendly.
Not a reaction recommended, just a song you might find interesting, it's Paul Kellys song titled "Don Bradman".
ua-cam.com/video/hjZHfEIEJ54/v-deo.html
First-class cricket means state level or above here in Australia. In England, the equivalent is the County Championship.
Australian often played county cricket to acclimatise and give locals a chance to see a international game. Same as England played states when they came to Australia.
There were newspaper headlines in the 30's - He's Out! Everybody knew what it meant.
First class is the step below test cricket. So, county cricket in England or state cricket in Australia etc. Tour matches (which are national teams against first class teams) are also considered only first class despite featuring a test nation. 7:00 back then they used to have a months long tour with many tour matches. Nowadays a team will only play 1 or 2 tour matches.
Totally agree with your analogy of the relationship between Don Bradman and his wife. Like you Rob I know at times I can be opinionated and out of line. I love that my beautiful missus can put me in my place gently and make me see reason. We compliment each other and support each other. She is the other very important half of us.glad to see some one else who feels the same about their partner
Mine certainly puts me back in my place! :D
1st class is best players of the state or county. Then you have club cricket and social. When players travelled to England, not like to day on a flight for 24 hours but weeks on a ship they needed to play practice matches to retune their games, so they play a few county sides. This still happens and when England comes down under later this year they will play a few matches against the state sides before competing against Australia.
It is a chance for those in the county/state sides to push their claim for selection in the country side by showing how well they perform against the tourists.
1. 1:09 Don Bradman is generally recognised as the greatest batsman to have ever lived. You've got 1 billion Indians, plus rest of the cricketing world that 100% know 'The Don'. I'm sure he's know to other sports fans the world over as well, purely for his statistical dominance.
2. 5:54 'First Class' cricket is a specific standard of cricket. It's generally the highest level of domestic cricket, and some other matches are also given First Class status. It also includes Test cricket, the highest standard of cricket. County Cricket in the UK is considered First Class.
3. 6:57 In those days, and even through much of the 20th C, national touring teams would 'tour' a country for at least a couple of months. They'd play usually 5 Tests against the national team, and then many other first class matches against local teams in preparation for the Tests. Initially, these tours relied on transport via ship, so it made more sense to stay a little longer than a day or two! But this practice still happens today. Australia will often play 1 or 2 matches against County teams during an Ashes tour.
4. 21:19 It's very difficult to compare players across different eras, but just consider this stat: Brian Lara's average at the end of his career was 52.9.... Bradman's was 99.94 (almost double!!) Bradman is such a statistical outlier, that his average is by far the highest standard deviation above the mean for any major stat across any sport, ever. His batting average is nearly 39 runs higher than the next best (to have batted more than 20 times). Check out the 'World sport context' section of his Wikipedia page for more info on that... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bradman#World_sport_context
National sided against counties as a warm up to get used to the pitches and practice as in the 30s it took a while to get there by boat
An American journalist did a write up on Bradman , calling him the greatest sportsman ever, citing his records and average of 99.94, in reply to a write up on an American sportsman who was aclaimed as the greatest ever by the American sportswriters, much to the amazenent of an Aussie sportswriter
He was not always particularly popular with teammates partly because of the level of adulation and special attention he received but also he was not what you would call a really sociable team man; he was not keen on joining in with evenings in the bar with the team preferring to be in his room.