donald bradman was the best batsman in the world of all time.
donald bradman was the best batsman in the world of all time.
who is the best batsman in the world of all time?
donald bradman
harvey was regarded as a mercurial batsman of great artistry and style. a short man at 172 cm (5 ft;8 in), he batted with aggression, and was known for his timing of the ball. his batting against spin bowling in particular was a crowd pleaser, highlighted by his extravagant footwork in charging the bowlers. harvey often charged five paces down the pitch to spinners, with one bowler quipping "he kept coming so far along the track toward me that i thought he must want to shake my hands". despite running out of the crease so much, harvey was never stumped in a test match. he was of the time belief that any bowling could and should be hit, and gave the impression that the balls were reaching the boundary with a minimum of power. according to johnnie moyes, "the sight of his slim figure, neat and trim-looking, always capless, coming to bat brought new hope for spectators. he will never prod a half volley or decline the challenge of a long hop...he will go looking for the ball which he can hit for four." following the retirement of sir donald bradman, he was seen as australia's leading batsman, noted by critics for a similar ability to change the mood of matches with his attacking play. ashley mallett said that harvey was australia's best batsman since bradman. this was despite the fact that he was found to have faulty eyesight. with the global expansion of cricket, harvey was the first australian to make test centuries in 15 different cities, succeeding in a variety of conditions. harvey made 67 first-class centuries spread across 35 venues in six countries. he scored 38 of these overseas, where his average was higher. he was the first batsman to score more than 10,000 runs for australian teams at home and abroad.
neil harvey
"wisden" viewed hutton, with jack hobbs, as "one of the two most accomplished professional batsmen to have played for his country", and following the second world war, critics regarded him as the best batsman in the world. in october 2010, he was chosen as part of the espncricinfo all-time world xi, a team selected by a panel of respected commentators and cricket writers to represent the greatest cricketers of all time. as part of the same process, he was also chosen in england's greatest team. the official yorkshire history describes him as "technically and aesthetically the best batsman to play for yorkshire". e. w. swanton believed that if hobbs was the greatest professional batsman, hutton, along with hammond and compton, came next. hutton was more cautious than these others. following the lead of herbert sutcliffe, he saw the role of an opening batsman as defensive. the basis of his game was a good defensive technique, although he was able to accelerate and play attacking shots when the situation demanded. cricket historian david frith believes that "there was an apparent touch of genius about his batsmanship", and alan gibson described hutton's off drive as "the glory of the game." he was particularly effective on difficult batting pitches. of the next generation of england batsmen, peter may tried to adopt hutton's mental approach to both batting and captaincy, while colin cowdrey later said "i had tried to model myself on len hutton ever since i started playing serious cricket." statistically, hutton stands near the highest achievers. when he retired, only two men had scored more than his 6,971 test runs; his average of 56.67 is seventh highest of those who played at least fifty test matches, as of 2016, while only sutcliffe has a higher average among openers who scored over 4,000 runs. he also displayed consistency; his annual average only fell below 50 three times, he averaged over 50 each year from 1947 to 1954 and scored 20 or more in 90 of his 138 innings.
len hutton