SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Well you answered it yourself SoC. I suppose what you need now is some clerical work by the statisticians to use as annexures. Here it is.The Question: Is Steven Tikolo a better cricketer than Sir Donald Bradman
The Answer: Of course he bloody well is!
In fact, he's so much better a comparison of the two players borders on unfair...
Is Steve Tikolo a better batsman than Donald Bradman
Well the short answer to that question, as SoC has so succinctly put it is ... YES.
For those enamoured with long winded rationale and evidence, statistics etc. here is the detail.
It is not easy to compare Bradman and Tikolo on their Test record. Not because Tikolo's isn't good enough but because it isn't - its just not there. The cruel ICC continues to discriminate against the underprivileged from the third world and superstars like Steve Tikolo are forced to showcase their wares in the next rung of competitive cricket - First Class Cricket.
Its not easy, as members of this forum are wll aware, to compare players from two different eras so we had to devise basic criteria which would be universally applicable across eras. We chose :-
- Versatility : Meaning ability to play in different conditions, in different climes, in different countries etc.
- Performance at Peak : Its generally accepted that players must be assessed at their peaks. Players tend to have different lengths of careers, some retire early while others play much beyond their use-by date and so on.
- Performance in Adversity
- Utility to the Team Beyond Batting
Versatility :
Bradman tended to play most of his First Class Cricket (which is what we are discussing here) exclusively at home. In between (just 3 times in 20 years !!) he went to England, virtually a home away from home since it was the father-land his fore-fathers came from. Where as Tikolo played his cricket jumping countries almost like a nomad. Have a look.
- Bradman never, ever played in such diverse conditions in his entire twenty year career. The closest he came to it was in the three seasons of 1929-30, 1930, 1930-31 when he played in three different countries. Australia, England and Scotland. Lets offer some concession to this over-rated Aussie and count it as four (he played Australia both at the beginning and the end of this period and what do we find. He averaged 96.3 in all first class games but you know what ? He wasn’t a match to our man Tikolo - the man for all seasons and all climes all countries and all continents.
- In three seasons in succession (2005, 2005-6, and 2006, Tikolo played first class cricket in four different countries. First in Uganda, then Namibia, , then Zimbabwe and finally at home in Kenya. Averaging 100.55 !!
Performance at Peak :
I have always found something very fishy about Bradman’s record. Year after year he kept ratcheting up the same kind of numbers close to or just above a hundred in averages. You will agree that this sounds more suspicious than Ahmadinijad’s winning massive majority in city after Iranian city. If he averaged in the seventies in his worst years and close to hundred overall, when did he ever play really really well ? A valid question you will agree. So I decided to put Bradman’s best to test.
- In the Aussie season of 1938-39, Bradman had his best ever FC performance, averaging 153.2. Very good indeed.
- Now we turn to our poor black man from impoverished Africa. His best year was 2006 in Kenya, He averaged a whopping 278.0 !!
I wont insult Tikolo by calling those figures Bradmanesque.
I can hear some murmurs in the background of disgruntled Aussies cribbing about a one off fluke. You just cant please these damn Aussies can you. Nevertheless, I decided to take the next best season of both these champions.
- Bradman had his next best FC season again at home in 1933-34 when he averaged 132.4. Well we cant be surprised can we.
- We turn our attention to our man Tikolo and find that he had his next best FC season in 2000-01 also at home, in Kenya – he averaged 156 !!
Well, well well. Where did those whinging Aussie fans disappear ??
Although there are no more murmurs on this account, I decided to put this figure to a still more rigorous test. I added the top THREE seasons of each player by adding Bradman’s next best of 1935-36 and Tikolo’s next best of 2005 in Namibia. Here are the combined averages
- Bradman : 136.8
- Tikolo : 170.3
Bradman supporters tend to hide the fact that Bradman never played in any ICC recognized country other than two, at home and in England. He went to Scotland but never batted there.
Steve Tikolo on the other hand played in as many as eleven ICC recognized countries, four of them being Test playing nations ! Well, well, well. Sticking to home turf and friendly nations are we Sir Donald ?
Performance in Adversity
Talking of friendly countries, without wanting to rake up sensitive and emotional issues, one cant help remind ourselves of the background of the two gentlemen. The first, a white man, from a developed country, ancestors from THE imperial power of the word used to being the ‘lords and masters’ of the lowly aborigines and other such ‘backward’ and coloured people.
The other, a blackman, from impoverished Africa, ancestors enslaved by the same white people who were the ancestors of Sir Donald and worse still with the sword of racism hanging permanently over him. Yet this poor man had no options of playing cricket when he started out except in neighboring South Africa with all the associated race issues of the recent past.
Does it deter our hero? No. He plays his very first season of FC cricket (1995-96) in the same South Africa for the regional side of Border scoring 240 runs – exactly 240 more than the number Sir Donald scored in that country.
Utility to the Team Beyond Batting
Although this discussion is about their relative batting strengths, we would be failing in our task if we did not touch upon other aspects of their cricket.
Bowling :
Sir Donald is known to be a bowler of leg breaks and has two Test wickets to his credit, one of those being of Walter Hammond one of the greatest batsmen of all time. In all first class cricket Bradman has the following bowling record
- Matches : 234
- Wickets : 36
- Avg : 38.0
- Str Rate : 80.0
- Wkts/Match : 0.15
- 5 Wkt hauls : ZILCH
- Best : 3 for 35
Now our hero from the starving Africa.
- Matches : 46
- Wickets : 63
- Avg : 37.8
- Str Rate : 70.1
- Wkts/Match : 1.37
- 5 Wkt hauls : 1
- Best : 6 for 80
I do not need to add any comments !
Fielding :
- Bradman is considered a dependable outfielders of his time and took
- 131 catches in
- 234 FC games at
- 0.56 catches per match.
- Tikolo considered one of the fleetest footed outfielders in the world, took
- 41 catches in his
- 46 FC games at
- 0.89 catches per match.
I think out of sheer regard for the state the Bradman supporters must be we won't rub it in. Simply...
Q.E.D.