How good would Bradman have been at ODIs?

[JBMAC]

kara316 is most certainly on "something" Bet he doesn't even realise that the overs The Don faced were of 8 balls....The last time I saw him bat was at the Exhibition Ground in 1954(6 years after his retirement) in a Testimonial match. It was a "limited" over match played over 2 days. In his first innings he scored only 18 runs but the crowds packed the ground on the following day just to see him bat again. He scored 80 odd runs in what I would describe one of the great displays of power hitting I have ever witnessed.If I recall he was only at the crease for about 45 minutes and the side he was playing against at the time was the then Aussie side.So from personal witness I can safely say The Don would have been "The"greatest ODI player of all time!

 

[smash84]

great anecdote JB

 

[ganeshran]

kara316 is most certainly on "something" Bet he doesn't even realise that the overs The Don faced were of 8 balls....The last time I saw him bat was at the Exhibition Ground in 1954(6 years after his retirement) in a Testimonial match. It was a "limited" over match played over 2 days. In his first innings he scored only 18 runs but the crowds packed the ground on the following day just to see him bat again. He scored 80 odd runs in what I would describe one of the great displays of power hitting I have ever witnessed.If I recall he was only at the crease for about 45 minutes and the side he was playing against at the time was the then Aussie side.So from personal witness I can safely say The Don would have been "The"greatest ODI player of all time!

You actually saw Bradman play?

 

[JBMAC]

You actually saw Bradman play?

Yes....in two tests at The Gabba,the first in 1946 a number of Sheffield Shield games and a couple of "Testimonials"....For the young and uneducated Testimonial matches were organised by the Board of Control to "pay" test players for their services..They were only paid a meagre token to play Cricket and Bradman only retired to concentrate on his burgeoning stockbroking firm which needed his full attention...He had to feed his family some way.One can rightly assume if he had been paid the money players receive today he could have played on for at least another 4-5 seasons.

 

[ganeshran]

Yes....in two tests at The Gabba,the first in 1946 a number of Sheffield Shield games and a couple of "Testimonials"....For the young and uneducated Testimonial matches were organised by the Board of Control to "pay" test players for their services..They were only paid a meagre token to play Cricket and Bradman only retired to concentrate on his burgeoning stockbroking firm which needed his full attention...He had to feed his family some way.One can rightly assume if he had been paid the money players receive today he could have played on for at least another 4-5 seasons.

Awesome JBMAC,

Were these testimonal matches all limited over games? Was that not well received, since it took nearly 20-30 years after that for the ODI game to catch up.

 

[Satguru]

Dont think the Don would have done well at all by his standards tbh, coz his heart wouldnt have been in it. Didnt he describe ODIs about as good to watch as watching paint dry, or something like that?
Probably still would have averaged 70 tho

Bradman would have been truly awesome in ODI's.

But he took an arrow to the knee.

WAG (What a game)

 

[Arachnodouche]

I've always wondered why batting and bowling techniques from olden days, but batting especially, look so unrefined and cobbled together. Primitive photography can't be the only reason; there's something very funny looking about batsmen from days past. I also wonder when the stylistic gap between the old and the modern was firmly bridged.

 

[ret]

The last time I saw him bat was at the Exhibition Ground in 1954(6 years after his retirement) in a Testimonial match. It was a "limited" over match played over 2 days. In his first innings he scored only 18 runs but the crowds packed the ground on the following day just to see him bat again. He scored 80 odd runs in what I would describe one of the great displays of power hitting I have ever witnessed.If I recall he was only at the crease for about 45 minutes and the side he was playing against at the time was the then Aussie side.So from personal witness I can safely say The Don would have been "The"greatest ODI player of all time!

Thanks for sharing that .... It is good to hear from those who have seen Bradman play

 

[Sylvester]

Don't know if this was mentioned but Bradman made a 24 ball 100

Rewind to 1931: Bradman scores a hundred in three overs | Regulars | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[sledger]

Great innings that.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Bradman would have been more than destructive in ODIs

 

[Red]

Australian Pre ODI ODI Team.


1. D. Bradman
2. N. Harvey
3. V. Trumper
4. K. Miller (2)
5. A. Jackson
6. A. Morris
7. R. Benaud (4)
8. R. Lindwall (1)
9. A.Davidson (4)
10. W. Grout
11. CTB Turner (3)


Would rip any other combo a new one....

 

[Migara]

Some of good test players have been good ODI players (Viv Richards, Tendulkar, de Villiers). But some had been not up to the standards (Lara, Sangakkara, Kallis). And Best of the ODI players are ordinary or just better than that in test cricket (Dhoni, Bevan, Hussey).

Bradman would have been a bloody good ODI player, but will he the best? No in my book.

 

[Red]

Some of good test players have been good ODI players (Viv Richards, Tendulkar, de Villiers). But some had been not up to the standards (Lara, Sangakkara, Kallis). And Best of the ODI players are ordinary or just better than that in test cricket (Dhoni, Bevan, Hussey).

Bradman would have been a bloody good ODI player, but will he the best? No in my book.

Lara in ODIs, average 40 at a SR of 80.....

Hussey is ordinary at test cricket?


Of course Bradman would've been the best ODI batsman ever. Have you seen footage of him batting? The guy took attacks apart. Scored triple hundreds in a day. Once hit 100 off three overs.

 

[Migara]

Lara in ODIs, average 40 at a SR of 80.....

Hussey is ordinary at test cricket?

Why don't you read properly? I said ordinary or just above ordinary, OK let's say good batsmen at best. Lara in test matches is ranked miles above Lara in ODI cricket.

Of course Bradman would've been the best ODI batsman ever. Have you seen footage of him batting? The guy took attacks apart. Scored triple hundreds in a day. Once hit 100 off three overs.

I really doubt. He took mediocre attacks apart like that 100 in 3 overs (Bangladesh would look like Aussies of 2000s compared to that side). But we are talking of a whole new set of skills in ODIs like power hitting, improvisation, aggressive running and placing the ball etc. And history suggests that there has been only very few batsmen who took it to both formats (of course, Bradman can get there). But best batsmen in ODIs are hardly the best batsmen in tests (Dhoni, Bevan and Hussey, may add Symonds as well), (at least a greater proportion of them) and that's a fact. Bradman becoming the best ODI batsman is OT suggestion.

 

[MrPrez]

Some of good test players have been good ODI players (Viv Richards, Tendulkar, de Villiers). But some had been not up to the standards (Lara, Sangakkara, Kallis). And Best of the ODI players are ordinary or just better than that in test cricket (Dhoni, Bevan, Hussey).

Bradman would have been a bloody good ODI player, but will he the best? No in my book.

Kallis averages more than Tendulkar in ODIs, just fyi.

Would he have been the best ODI batsman of his time if ODIs existed? Most probably. I'm one of those who don't rate him as being good enough to even nearly replicate his dominance in the current day, and he would struggle even more in ODIs imo.

 

[Spark]

Averages in ODIs are a little meaningless tbh

 

[Migara]

Kallis averages more than Tendulkar in ODIs, just fyi.

Would he have been the best ODI batsman of his time if ODIs existed? Most probably. I'm one of those who don't rate him as being good enough to even nearly replicate his dominance in the current day, and he would struggle even more in ODIs imo.

True it, is, but what is more important is SR * Average (SR adjusted to era of course), and that's why Dhoni, Bevan, Viv, Hussey, SRT and Symonds are so far ahead of the rest.

 

[Dan]

Australian Pre ODI ODI Team.


1. D. Bradman
2. N. Harvey
3. V. Trumper
4. K. Miller (2)
5. A. Jackson
6. A. Morris
7. R. Benaud (4)
8. R. Lindwall (1)
9. A.Davidson (4)
10. W. Grout
11. CTB Turner (3)


Would rip any other combo a new one....

No idea what's happening with your batting order..
Morris, Trumper, Bradman, Jackson, Miller, Harvey as the order of the top 6, IMO. Harvey would be one heck of a finisher.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

That's it pretty much for me as well:

Morris
Trumper
Bradman
Jackson
Miller
Harvey

Wish there was room for Macartney and McCabe but if Jackson got injured or something, one of the two easily could get in esp the former for adding more varities in bowling