What would a modern player need to beat Bradman?

[Nintendo]

I highly doubt there are more male cricketers now despite the 4x increase in population. It is definitely not much higher.

Outside of few Anglo-private schools,may be 1 kid in 15 plays cricket (thats actually being liberal). In Bradman’s or even Trumper’s era I doubt the figure would be any higher than 1 out of 4.

Australia have ~1 million registered, adult players for club stuff or around that level as per an earlier post. That doesn't account for casual play. Doubt there was as many playing in Bradman time.

 

[Spark]

Australia have ~1 million registered, adult players for club stuff or around that level as per an earlier post. That doesn't account for casual play. Doubt there was as many playing in Bradman time.

It would require upwards of two thirds of the entire male population in Australia between the ages of 20 and 60 to be playing cricket in the 1930s.

I'm going to go out and say that the entire claim is innumerate nonsense.

 

[Patience and Accuracy+Gut]

It would require upwards of two thirds of the entire male population in Australia between the ages of 20 and 60 to be playing cricket in the 1930s.

I'm going to go out and say that the entire claim is innumerate nonsense.

If the figure of 1 Million Male cricketers is true then definitely. But, I would like to see the authenticity of the claim.

Cricket Census Reveals Cricket Participation Continues to Grow | cricket.com.au

Live cricket coverage, live streaming, cricket highlights, live scores, breaking news, video, analysis and expert opinion.

www.cricket.com.au

 

[capt_Luffy]

No it's AFL. Except in Queensland and NSW where as far as I'm it's NRL or Union, though they still play AFL there just not as much. Cricket my be close in those 2 states I'm not sure. Frankly the less I know about NSW and Queensland the better

So I did some digging into the subject matter and read a few articles on the most popular Australian sports; and accordingly found this:

Rank	Most Searched	Most Attended	Most Participants
1	AFL	AFL	Aerobics
2	Cricket	Horse Racing	Golf
3	Football	Rugby League	Tennis
4	NRL	Motor Sports	Lawn Bowls
5	Golf	Soccer (outdoor)	Netball
6	Rugby	Cricket (outdoor)	Swimming
7	Soccer	Rugby Union	Cricket (outdoor)
8	Tennis	Harness Racing	Martial Arts
9	Basketball	Tennis (indoor and outdoor)	Basketball
10	Rugby League	Dog racing	Tenpin Bowling

Now, the exact data source wasn't given, but considering everything; the most searched and visited datas are hard to mess up. Though I would say I have some questions regarding the most played, especially how does it counts. Does anyone who has played the sport counts or only registered players? Like, considering everything it's quite hard to belief that more people have played aerobics than goddamn ****ing football....

 

[TheJediBrah]

So I did some digging into the subject matter and read a few articles on the most popular Australian sports; and accordingly found this:

Rank	Most Searched	Most Attended	Most Participants
1	AFL	AFL	Aerobics
2	Cricket	Horse Racing	Golf
3	Football	Rugby League	Tennis
4	NRL	Motor Sports	Lawn Bowls
5	Golf	Soccer (outdoor)	Netball
6	Rugby	Cricket (outdoor)	Swimming
7	Soccer	Rugby Union	Cricket (outdoor)
8	Tennis	Harness Racing	Martial Arts
9	Basketball	Tennis (indoor and outdoor)	Basketball
10	Rugby League	Dog racing	Tenpin Bowling

Now, the exact data source wasn't given, but considering everything; the most searched and visited datas are hard to mess up. Though I would say I have some questions regarding the most played, especially how does it counts. Does anyone who has played the sport counts or only registered players? Like, considering everything it's quite hard to belief that more people have played aerobics than goddamn ****ing football....

Yeah Most Searched and Most Attended seem pretty self explanatory (though I don't think most searched is that relevant). Most Participants depends heavily on how it's calculated. My assumption is that "aerobics" probably includes anyone who goes for a jog outside or joins a gym, and it's not really a sport.

I'm highly skeptical of that whole list in general because there's no way Netball, basketball or even cricket have more participants than AFL/Australian football.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Yeah Most Searched and Most Attended seem pretty self explanatory (though I don't think most searched is that relevant). Most Participants depends heavily on how it's calculated. My assumption is that "aerobics" probably includes anyone who goes for a jog outside or joins a gym, and it's not really a sport.

I'm highly skeptical of that whole list in general because there's no way Netball, basketball or even cricket have more participants than AFL/Australian football.

I mean, if any level counts then AFL is a much more physically demanding sport than something like cricket, which can be played in the backyard by pretty much anyone. Football though, is a totally different story..... I can't understand how more people basketball than football in Australia (by football I mean 'soccer').

 

[TheJediBrah]

I mean, if any level counts then AFL is a much more physically demanding sport than something like cricket, which can be played in the backyard by pretty much anyone

Eh it's actually the opposite. Kids or kids and parents kicking a footy around the backyard or the local reserve is ubiquitous in Australia and requires nothing more than 2 humans and a ball. It's definitely more common than backyard cricket which requires more equipment (not that that is the reason it's not as common, more so it's just not as popular)

 

[Spark]

Football is absolutely dominant at like kids' levels but falls off a cliff as they get into teenage years and kids start getting serious about picking a sport.

 

[Prince EWS]

Eh it's actually the opposite.

I just wanted to say that I ****ing love it when you start a reply like this. Such a glorious way to disagree - not just, "you're wrong" but "the total opposite is true."

You do it lots too.

 

[Coronis]

Yeah Most Searched and Most Attended seem pretty self explanatory (though I don't think most searched is that relevant). Most Participants depends heavily on how it's calculated. My assumption is that "aerobics" probably includes anyone who goes for a jog outside or joins a gym, and it's not really a sport.

I'm highly skeptical of that whole list in general because there's no way Netball, basketball or even cricket have more participants than AFL/Australian football.

Netball is insanely popular amongst children/teenagers - dominated by girls obviously but easily a much higher participation rate than the male sports where you’ll have people picking between multiple sports.

You mentioned previously about AFL being played everywhere but not so popular in NSW/QLD - which happen to have about half the population of the country. Makes sense to me.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Netball is insanely popular amongst children/teenagers - dominated by girls obviously but easily a much higher participation rate than the male sports where you’ll have people picking between multiple sports

Women smh

Always proving me wrong

 

[Coronis]

Women smh

Always proving me wrong

You’ll never win a fight against them that’s for sure.

 

[Victor Ian]

how is horse racing so much attended? no way are there so many people attending, except on the big days in spring. the rest, those tracks seem empty.

 

[Migara]

Does any one care to include growth of game in India and Pakistan?

Heck 80% of cricketing population is in these two countries and if you include Bangladesh it is 90% north.

Introduction of serious cricket in to India itself would have increased the player base exponentially.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Does any one care to include growth of game in India and Pakistan?

Heck 80% of cricketing population is in these two countries and if you include Bangladesh it is 90% north.

Introduction of serious cricket in to India itself would have increased the player base exponentially.

Ok

 

[Coronis]

Does any one care to include growth of game in India and Pakistan?

Heck 80% of cricketing population is in these two countries and if you include Bangladesh it is 90% north.

Introduction of serious cricket in to India itself would have increased the player base exponentially.

Completely irrelevant to the discussion of popularity of the game in Australia now vs 90 years ago but sure, lets talk about it.

 

[Migara]

Completely irrelevant to the discussion of popularity of the game in Australia now vs 90 years ago but sure, lets talk about it.

It is relevant because we are comparing two eras and their player bases. The player base does not mean Australian player base only. It includes the global player base. My guess is it has at least grown 1000 fold for last 100 years.

 

[TheJediBrah]

The player base does not mean Australian player base only.

It actually does, in the context of the discussion. Like that is literally what we were talking about.

 

[Migara]

It actually does, in the context of the discussion. Like that is literally what we were talking about.

The discussion was whether we could compare performances two eras. Then what is important is the player base played against, not the player base selected from.

 

[TheJediBrah]

The discussion was whether we could compare performances two eras. Then what is important is the player base played against, not the player base selected from.

Bro you have to notice the train of discussion you jumped in on, which was literally people arguing about whether more people played cricket in Australia in Bradman's time or now. It started last page and it expanded directly from there. If you want to talk about growth in other markets in the thread that's great but you came in at the end of a discussion directly following from the argument about the popularity of cricket in Australia with "why aren't you guys talking about cricket in the subcontinent??? huh???"