Is Don Bradman the best batter ever?

Rightly or wrongly, batsmen are the glamour boys of cricket.
Although the input of bowlers is just as important as the guys higher up the order, the big names of the sport, with a few exceptions, are the ones who are proficient at wielding the willow.
Amongst this group are some of the legends of the game. Names like Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara from the recent crop. Going back further we have Viv Richards, Graeme Pollock, Greg Chappell, Sunil Gavaskar, George Headley and Victor Trumper.
'Bradman’s bat was an ordinary lump of wood, not a highly sculpted and compressed weapon that is available today'
As good as this lot are, and there are a number of other names who deserve to be on this list, the very best that any one of them could hope to achieve is to be considered the second best batsman ever.
The reason that these stellar players are reduced to also-rans is, of course, the man known simply as The Don – Sir Donald Bradman. He is the yardstick against whom all others are measured – invariably unfavourably – and whose record will never be equalled.
For the statistically minded, no-one else comes close. Bradman’s average of 99.94 will never be bettered by anyone with any kind of serious Test career. His 6996 test runs in 52 Tests included 29 centuries with a record 12 double centuries and two triple centuries.

By Craig Hackney