weldone
Hall of Fame Member
From that excellent piece from SJS, apparently the only thing that changed with Bradman is this:SJS wrote a piece that rather disproves this notion: Cricket Web - Features: Bradman to Sehwag : Redefining Great Batsmanship by Defying Tradition (Part 1)
"The world understood, over time, that while changing conditions may not alter the fundamentals of the game, the basics could be adopted and harnessed by talented individuals to obtain the best results under varying conditions. As conditions continue to change over time and vary greatly from one country to another cricketers need to be adaptive enough to add to the vocabulary of batsmanship even while remaining largely true to its basic grammar."
But the followings, which was the crux of Bradman's batting technique, didn't bring any immediate change:
"His fantastic early judgment and great footwork meant he drove almost everything he could reach from the crease or by jumping out which he did often to lesser pace because of his amazing early judgment of length and great footwork. And yes he pulled almost everything he couldn't drive but he did it again by fantastic early judgment of line and length and by moving fully back and across - quickly and decisively."
I don't think anyone in the 50s and the 60s imitated this with much success.
Of course, Bradman thought it was Tendulkar who played a bit like him (style-wise). Bradman made this remark watching the Tendulkar of the 90s. I have a feeling that he would have found that more in the Sachin of the last 3 years (2007-10), if he could see them. Not necessarily because Sachin too drives every ball he can and pulls the rest (which is not the case), but because Sachin, of late, has a very very simplified batting technique (or philosophy).
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