How good would Sir Donald Bradman have been if he had played one day cricket?

[Quagmire]

This subject has always interested me, how would the greatest ever test batsman go if there were ODI's in his time. Personally I think he would have averaged a lot more than 100, the reasons why would have been he was more likely to get more not outs, his weakness was body line and there are restrictions on bouncers in ODI's plus his amazing talent and patience would in my opinion have made him the greatest in both forms of the game. He was never a big hitter of the ball with only 6 sixes in his test career but his reflexes timing & ability to work the ball and hit the gaps were apparently superhuman.

[Aussie-Yank]

I would say he would be just as good - the description you gave of his batting you could have been describing how Bevan plays - I would think Bradman a better bat so more than likely he would have his 100 - Not sure on the strike rate side of things - any one know his strike rate for tests?

[Quagmire]

Im not sure what sort of strike rate he had, but he made 100 in a session on 6 occasions, he also held the record for the fastest ever double hundred 200 in 214 minuted at Headingly in 1934, and scored the most runs in a day with 309 which ended up being his test high score off 334 at Headingly in 1930. He made a hundred in each session that day in 1930 which I could only imagine would have been the worse day in the field ever. What was interesting about that innings was that the second two high scores were 77 by Kippax and 50 by Woodfull, Bradman made 334 out of 566 in 449 balls and hit 46 fours and not a single six. The amazing thing about Bradman was that he could score at a rapid pace for a long amount of time with out taking many risks.

[Nostromo]

I also believe that Bradman would have been just as good. I know that he played his cricket - all traditional format games - in Oz and England only, but he was far too good a batsman and well above rest of the pack not to succeed elsewhere and under different circumstances. After all, Bradman has the fastest (unless I am mistaken) hundred in history in a second class match - off only 24 balls! He was extremely adaptable in his technique, particularly in adjusting to changes in field placing; that talent would have served him well in ODI cricket.

[greg]

Difficult to tell properly as fitness and fielding has improved so much,in some of the old clips if it beat the infield it was 4 and that doesn't happen nowadays.He would obviously be good but how good is anyones guess and would he be considered a liability in the field and have to work more on other aspects of his game.

[pie_chucker]

Bradman would have suceeded in ODI's. As a batsman he was not as such a big hitter - he didnt hit many 6's in test cricket, but he was very good at placing the ball and working it around. IMO these abilities are vital for a good ODI batter.

[acker]

Having been to Bowral and seeing a fair bit of footage of Sir Don over the years, I think he would have been an even better one day player than a test player.
Allthough their is no current player I would consider his style exactly like, there are two that I think if you merged together would be pretty close to a modern day Sir Don.
Being

1. Craig McMillan (New Zealand) phenomenal ability to get under the ball and loft the shot with power
2. Ricky Ponting (Australia) the Michaelangelo / Leonardo Da Vinci of above the waist cross batted pull and hook shots

Don Bradman loved playing across the line, and did it extremely well.
I would suggest he probably would have also had a carreer strike rate around 100

[Nostromo]

I went through some of the vast old cricket literature that I have accumulated over the years. Obviously, there are several articles about Don Bradman and his batting; one feature that is mentioned time and again is his aforementioned expertise in placing balls through various field settings. Apparently, he used to delight in hitting a boundary through the spot from where the opposing fielder had been moved moments before. Another talent was his ability to spot sudden change in the bowler's pace and exploit it to the full.

Reading such things about the Great Man makes one certain that he would have been brilliant in the ODI form of the game had he a chance to play it.

[Rachael]

The most famous quote from Bradman is "I saw much better batsmen than I was. Lots of them...they just kept getting out."

I agree that Bradman would have been outstanding... but I doubt he'd have been slogging over the top in the powerplays and at the death!

[Nostromo]

Originally Posted by Rachael

I agree that Bradman would have been outstanding... but I doubt he'd have been slogging over the top in the powerplays and at the death!

Oh, Bradman would not have needed to go over the top! He would have expertly pierced the field reaching the boundary time and again, driving not only the ball but the opposing team to tears with frustration. Whereas most of current ODI hitters would have used the sledgehammer in the final rush, The Don would have preferred the stiletto.