Bradman vs. Tendulkar vs. Richards
I had planned to publish this article after Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement. However, he is still going strong and shows no signs of tiring after 23 years of international cricket. The first point is to conclude whether such a comparison is justifiable because all three of them played cricket at different times and had to face different conditions. For this reason alone, it’s brave to make a comparison of who was the greatest hitter of all time. First, let’s take a brief look at their careers.
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards was probably the most destructive batsman of all time. He played his spray shots against the best bowlers of his time and crushed them into submission. Viv Richards made his Test debut in 1974 and was immediately recognized as a brilliant fielder. As well as being a trick bowler, the man was easily the most devastating batsman of all time. His batting gained an aura due to his arrogant and aggressive presence on the field and his arrogance as he walked while batting. This clearly told the opponents that the King was here and they better be careful. The term “master blaster” was coined to describe Viv Richards. He played 121 Test matches and scored 8540 runs, an average of 50.23 with 24 centuries. He still holds the record for the fastest Test century in history, which he scored in 56 balls against the UK during their 1986 tour of the West Indies. He was also a member of the famous West Indies team of the 1970s, which won the first two one-day International World Cups. His batting style and his versatility as a fielder and part-time bowler made him an ideal one-day player. He scored his runs in one day internationals with an average of 47 and a strike rate of 96. He also picked up over 100 wickets in one day matches. In 2002, Wisden named him the greatest ODI batsman of all time. He was also the most successful West Indies captain of all time never losing a Test series as captain.
In 1976 the West Indies would visit England for a long-awaited Test series. The England captain at the time, in a bravado, declared to the media that he would make the West Indies team drag themselves down in misery. Grovel is a term associated with slavery and the statement did not go down well with the public, the media and least of all the West Indies cricket team. What followed that statement made history as the West Indies annihilated the English team with their four-pronged attack led by Michael Holding and Viv was at her devastating best. He scored over 1000 runs in the series with a superb 291 at Oval to finish things off. West Indies won the series 3-0 and Tony Grieg later said that he was the one who felt like dragging himself off the field. In my opinion, Viv was the greatest batsman ever against genuine fast bowlers and showed almost contempt against the best, such as Imran Khan and Dennis Lille, as he hooked and bowled his short bowls with tremendous power. Remember these were the days when helmets were yet to come and eventually when they did arrive Richards refused to wear them saying he didn’t need them. Viv Richards retired in 1991 from both forms of international cricket. If you ask any cricketer of his generation who was the greatest batsman of all time, he would invariably say that it was Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards.
Don Bradman is rated by most as the greatest hitter of all time. He owns a record that can be considered as the highest sporting achievement in any sport. There are no prizes for getting it right; his winning average in a test match was 99.96. How he practiced with a golf ball and a single cricket stick are stories that are part of Australian folklore. During the Great Depression years, he lit up cricket grounds with several records that stand to this day. Him taking it out was equivalent to taking out three batters. Like Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar, he drew huge crowds. However, the man was a complex person and did not mix easily with the team members. However, his views were highly sought after, even after his retirement. Bradman scored $29 million in 52 games. That’s a hundred every two games, actually, which is incredible. For another incredible record, he hit 12 double hundreds out of 29. He even hit three double hundreds in a single Test series against arch-enemies England in 1930. He made centuries in six Test matches in a row. He is also the fastest to reach 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 runs in Test cricket. He fell short of 7000 runs by four runs. This was, by the way, because of that failure in his last Test appearance, when he fell in love with a duck and came back to the pavilion half laughing at the irony.
The only test series he acted in next was the much maligned series bodyline. On a visit to Australia in 1931, English captain Douglas Jardine devised a technique called the bodyline, primarily to stop the running machine named Don Bradman. Working on an observation made during a Bradman tackle in England, he decided to attack Bradman with short pitch bowling. He, along with the selectors, chose three fast bowlers for the tour managed by Harold Larwood and Bill Voce. This tactic worked well against the Australians and Bradman. Although Bradman hit just a single hundred to set up an Australian victory, they won only that one Test match in the series. The Australians were beaten in the series. Bradman’s hitting style was forever changed. There was a lot of fuss about the tactic and much has been written about it. However, when he tried to imagine Viv Richards in the Don’s shoes, he felt the tactic would have failed. Viv probably would have hit half the short pitches in the stands. This is conjecture, of course, but food for thought nonetheless. This weakness against short pitch bowling is the only flaw to be found in Bradman’s repertoire.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, in my opinion, is the best overall batsman of all time. I will rate Bradman ahead of Sachin in trials and Viv Richards for combined number one in one day trials with Sachin. There is a lot written about the little master from India and I can only add a point that is not much discussed about Sachin. That is the balance of him in the crease. He appears to be putting little effort into his footwork, however, he gets into position so quickly that it is lethally effective and combined with the enormous talent, there is no more complete batsman in his box skills and never has. there have been Sachin has been around for 23 years in international cricket and bowlers are still looking for a weakness they can exploit. His record of 100 international centuries is unlikely to ever be broken, as is Sir Don Bradman’s 99.96 batting average. He has broken virtually every batting record and continues to play at the highest level. The hunger for runs has not abated after 23 years of tough international cricket. I think readers of this article should go to Wiki or other similar standard pages to see the list of Sachin records. He has acquired so many that I cannot list them here. However, it is important to note that he had the highest number of tests / centuries and the highest number of hundreds / centuries in one day. Would Bradman have been able to make the necessary mental and technical adjustments to continue playing so much cricket and against so many quality rival teams? Well, we’ll never know for sure, but I think not. Therefore, at the risk of facing a lot of dissent, I rate Sachin as number one and Sir Don an extremely close number two.
Several other hitters have come very close to these three in their claims as the best hitter. These include Walter Hammond, Garfield Sobers, Len Hutton, Brian Lara, etc. Yet these three players have been the most effective for their teams and remain the greatest hitters of all time.