Sir Donald Bradman

[the big bambino]

They don't really take their eyes off the ball but are already where the ball will bounce and waiting for it. Bradman was adept at many sports so its not right to say he didn't have the attributes associated with great athletes.

 

[watson]

Here Bradman explains his unique grip and stance. According to Shillinglaw it gave Bradman a faster shoulder rotation and therefore faster bat speed. In a other words a more circular movement of the shoulders and bat provides more power and better timing than the conventional 'pendulum' technique.

 

[Victor Ian]

I like the point made that it is unlikely Bradman was better simply because of 'concentration'. There HAS to be more to it, as many top sportsman would have mastered concentration.

 

[Victor Ian]

Bradman really did troll the next centuries cricketers. He got to bat without much footage of it so that all these wanker sport scientists of today have nothing to dismantle and copy. IF a Bradman happened today, many more of him would pop up immediatly afterwards, just as directly after Tendulkar a whole pile of batsman popped up and averaged more, thereabouts. But Bradman existed before clear footage. He will forever be a joyous mystery, much like Barnes.

 

[Red]

Tendulkar did nothing of the sort.

 

[stephen]

I think Bradman just saw the ball that fraction of a second before anyone else, giving him extra time to play it. Turning the 140kph bowlers into 130kph bowlers relatively.

Just like how if Michael Jordan had have come and played in the NBL he'd have scored 50 points per game.

 

[Victor Ian]

Tendulkar did nothing of the sort.

Agreed. I more or less meant Tendulkar took batting from an era of few averaging a gritty dire 50, to every team having one or two players do it in a dominating way. Bad example. Point is, if Bradman was playing today, we'd see exactly how he was doing it. I'm not sold on concentration being his main advantage.

 

[GotSpin]

Agreed. I more or less meant Tendulkar took batting from an era of few averaging a gritty dire 50, to every team having one or two players do it in a dominating way. Bad example. Point is, if Bradman was playing today, we'd see exactly how he was doing it. I'm not sold on concentration being his main advantage.

Maybe he would even average more then beside he could study his own technique

 

[weldone]

..

It explains observation from some fans here (JBMAC) that Bradman picked length unusually early - made the decision to go on the frontfoot or backfoot earlier than other batsmen

 

[Burgey]

I'm sure there's a fair bit to that. If you pick the length of the ball early you're so far ahead of the game it isn't funny.

 

[Engle]

Concentration does play a large part in Bradman's batting. Most batsmen tend to ' relax ' after getting a 100 - which explains why most centuries end before 120. Bradman just kept going on using the 1st 100 as the springboard to the 2nd and so on.

 

[Adders]

Bradman's genius must just be a combination of everything, I don't subscribe to the thought that his major asset was super level concentration.......look at the No of epic innings Lara played, he rewrote the book on long innings but has a test batting average barely over 50. So clearly Lara had immense concentration probably at least equal to the Don but yet he was still half the batsmen.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Bradman's genius must just be a combination of everything, I don't subscribe to the thought that his major asset was super level concentration.......look at the No of epic innings Lara played, he rewrote the book on long innings but has a test batting average barely over 50. So clearly Lara had immense concentration probably at least equal to the Don but yet he was still half the batsmen.

lol what a loser

 

[Victor Ian]

Concentration does play a large part in Bradman's batting. Most batsmen tend to ' relax ' after getting a 100 - which explains why most centuries end before 120. Bradman just kept going on using the 1st 100 as the springboard to the 2nd and so on.

I imagine Bradman concentrated his way to beyond 50 far more frequently than other players too. Other players are not yet losing concentration and throwing wickets away post 100. No doubt he had amazing concentration to just keep going, earning lots of the bigger scores which pad out averages, but he seems better at all levels of the innings.

I'm liking the idea of picking the length early. I imagine if you have picked the length early (successfully) then you are.... yeah - basically, what Burgey said.

 

[Engle]

Good discussion. What do you think separates Bradman from great batsmen like Viv Richards, Gary Sobers, Brian Lara ? I'm sure those W.Indian superstars had natural ability to pick up the ball early - as can be seen from Youtube clips.

 

[stephen]

Good discussion. What do you think separates Bradman from great batsmen like Viv Richards, Gary Sobers, Brian Lara ? I'm sure those W.Indian superstars had natural ability to pick up the ball early - as can be seen from Youtube clips.

If Bradman was able to pick up the ball 100ms faster than other batsmen that would be enough to give him just that fraction more time to get in the right position to play the ball. Picking up the ball early is what makes batsmen great. Bradman probably did that better than everyone else in history.

 

[mr_mister]

im so bad at picking length haha

 

[Gob]

lol what a loser

He meant it as in comparison with Bradman i think.

 

[Engle]

I don't disagree that picking up line/length early is a key attribute to good batsmanship.

However, when I think of Bradman, the qualities that come to my mind are : Relentless, Insatiable, Risk-removal - qualities that are more aligned with concentration.

I recall reading an article about highest average centuries, in which the author wrote (paraphrasing) :
' Zaheer Abbas had the Bradmanesque ability to consider his century as nothing more than a springboard to his next...'
He was referring to ZA ability to go on and on

 

[honestbharani]

Agree with Engle here. Ability to pick length and even line early is what seperates the ATG level batsmen from the rest but when it comes to Bradman, I feel the factors Engle mentioned is what made him better than the other ATG bats. Its one thing to pick the length early, another to be able to choose the most risk free stroke possible to score off that delivery.