Gary Sobers, cricketer beyond compare, genius like no other. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’

Just as the memorable careers of the three Ws were drawing to a close, there appeared on the stage a cricketer blessed by nature like no other. Inarguably the most versatile and complete player, with class stamped all over, the left-handed genius Garfield Sobers was the only one apart from Bradman who would walk into everybody’s all-time dream team. To state the obvious, Sobers was a powerful strokeplayer, predecessor to Brian Lara in myriad ways, not the least in hitting up the record score and highest aggregate in Test cricket; bowler of greater variety than anyone in history - genuine speed, medium-pace swing, left-arm orthodox as well as chinaman; and a superb fielder, particularly close to the wicket in the slips or at backward short-leg.  Like Bradman, the game is not likely to see another with his amazing skills.

The doyen himself, Sir Neville Cardus, described Sobers’ batting thus: “He makes a stroke with moments to spare. The sure sign of mastery, of genius of any order, is absence of strain, natural freedom of rhythm.” How aptly can this be applied to sportspersons of any discipline. Brian Johnston, legend in the commentary box, observed Sobers for years. He wrote in his book It’s Been a Piece of Cake: “…..like all the greats - he had a sound defensive technique, but in attack with a high backlift and perfect timing the power of his strokes had to be seen to be believed. His sizzling drives and crashing hooks were hammered to the boundary, leaving the fielders helpless to stop them.”

Sobers never wore a thigh pad, and except for early in his career had no use for a cap, batting or fielding. His rasping cuts were facilitated by a light bat weighing around 2 lb 4 oz. There was no less power in his shots than seen today by those wielding the chunky modern day bludgeons. That is one of the reasons why there are not many players today who can play genuine horizontal bat shots like the cut, pull and hook with authority. Sobers rarely went down the wicket to the spinners, either using his long reach to drive or playing right back.

For someone who was pitchforked into the Test arena as a 17-year-old left-arm spinner in 1953-54 after just two first-class appearances, it is quite amazing that Sobers went on to become one of the greatest batsmen in history. Four years after his debut, he recorded his first Test hundred against Pakistan at Kingston, an unbeaten 365, the top score at the highest level, surpassing Len Hutton’s mark of two decades earlier. He added 446 for the second wicket in the company of Conrad Hunte, just five runs short of the then all-time high for any wicket put up by Ponsford and Bradman in 1934. Sobers celebrated his achievement by hammering a century in each innings - 125 and 108 not out - in the Georgetown Test. He finished the series with 824 runs at an average of 137.33. The legend of Sobers had been launched.

In 1959-60 against England, Sobers hit up 709 runs at an average of 101.28, crashing 226 at Bridgetown, 147 at Kingston and 146 at Georgetown. He put on 399 for the fourth wicket with Worrell in the Georgetown Test. Though a natural successor to Worrell, Sobers was not as diligent a captain as Bradman. From 1966 to 1967-68, Sobers had a golden run with the bat, averaging over 100 in two successive series, and 90 in the third. During the 1966 tour of England, he scored 722 runs at an average of 103.14 in five Tests, took 20 wickets at 27.25 apiece and held 10 catches. England were again given a 3-1 hammering, and Sobers once more hit up three centuries - 161 at Old Trafford, 163 not out at Lord’s and 174 at Headingley. He then went to India in 1966-67, scoring half-centuries in all his five innings with a highest of 95, aggregating 342 runs and averaging 114. By now the West Indies were the best side in the world. In 1967-68 against England at home, Sobers knocked up 545 runs in five Tests at 90.83 per innings but his over-confident declaration in the fourth Test at Kingston - 215 to win in 165 minutes - handed the series to England, who won that game with three minutes to spare, and the crown slipped.

The irrepressible Sobers became the first batsman in first-class cricket to hit 6 sixes in an over for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan, smashing a bewildered Malcolm Nash at St Helen’s Ground, Swansea in 1968. It was in the evening of his career that Sobers played what Sir Donald Bradman described as the best innings he had seen in Australia, comparing it to Stan McCabe’s superb 232 at Trent Bridge in 1938. He slammed 254 for the Rest of the World against Australia at Melbourne in 1971-72 against a young and lightning fast Dennis Lillee. It was an amazing display of pyrotechnics, and when it reached its crescendo, rousing applause came from the spectators and fielders alike. 

When a damaged knee ended his 20-year Test career, Sobers had become the highest run-getter in his 93 appearances with 8032 runs at an average of 57.78, having blazed 26 hundreds, second behind Bradman’s 29. He had captured 235 wickets at 34.03 each, and snapped up 109 catches. It would be fair to say that had he batted higher than the no. 6 that he often did as captain, and if the West Indies did not have bowlers of the calibre of Wesley Hall, Charlie Griffith and Lance Gibbs, Sobers would have had many more runs and wickets to his credit. Gary Sobers was a cricketer beyond compare. It was just a matter of time before knighthood was bestowed on him.

On the eve of the Australia-India Test series 2024-25, flashback to Don Bradman’s 100th First-class hundred in 1947-48. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’

 

K.S. Duleepsinhji, Don Bradman and Lala Amarnath during India's tour of Australia in 1947-48.  

Appropriately, independent India’s first Test series was against Bradman’s Australians. The Don was a much loved and worshipped figure in India. It was said that apart from his own country, Bradman received the most letters from India. A succession of Indian cricketers from the captain of the 1947-48 team Lala Amarnath, to the present demi-god Sachin Tendulkar, spoke about their admiration and awe of Bradman, and many of them kept in regular touch with him, exchanging greetings and letters and speaking over the phone.

The Indian team missed a few of its top players. Vijay Merchant, who was designated captain, had to withdraw owing to health problems, as did Rusi Modi. Mushtaq Ali had a bereavement, while Fazal Mahmood, based in Lahore, was now a citizen of newly-created Pakistan. A fortnight before the Test series, there was a match between an Australian XI and the touring Indians at Sydney. Prior to this Bradman had scored his 99^th first-class century in a Sheffield Shield game. A huge crowd congregated at the Sydney Cricket Ground in anticipation of the great man’s 100^th hundred. The Indian team batted first and was all out for 326 on the second morning. Rob Lurie, Australian High Commissioner in India more than half a century later, was a wide-eyed young spectator on that historic occasion.

He wrote in a special issue of Cricket Talk in September 2000 to commemorate the 92^nd (and as it, sadly, turned out, last) birthday of Sir Donald Bradman: “The day was overcast. Bradman, by his standards at least, started sedately and for much of the pre and early after lunch sessions Miller was the dominant partner. So much so that when he reached his half-century before Bradman and to a rapturous reaction from the crowd, it looked as though the day belonged to Miller rather than to his captain. But a remarkable change came over the game as Miller suddenly seemed to appreciate this fact and went into his shell, working the strike so that Bradman had a good deal of the bowling and limiting his own flamboyant strokeplay to the occasional trademark and sublime cover drive. Bradman meanwhile got on with things with superb judgement, placement and running between the wickets until he reached 99 in the last over before tea. You can imagine how we all felt - Bradman later wrote ‘even in the most exciting Test match I can never remember a more emotional crowd nor a more electric atmosphere’.“

The High Commissioner continued: “Amarnath threw the ball to (Gogumal) Kishenchand. In my view this was a very shrewd move as Bradman like most of us in the crowd, had never seen him bowl, and the element of surprise can be critical at such a moment. Bradman was very careful with the first ball but the second he played off his pads on the on-side. As he and Miller ran through for the single, a huge cheer engulfed the ground and the Indian team rushed to congratulate a man they admired and liked. My family and I joined with many thousands in repeated singing of the refrain ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’.” Bradman himself recalled that cherished instant in his Farewell to Cricket: “Finally, with my score on 99, Amarnath called on G. Kishenchand, who was fielding on the boundary. He had not bowled before and I had no idea what type of bowler he was. It was a shrewd move, as one could have so easily been deceived but I treated him with the greatest respect until eventually came a single to mid-on and the great moment had arrived.”

Don Bradman sprinting for the 100th run of his 100th First-class hundred.

High Commissioner Lurie added, “After tea Bradman cut loose and in 45 minutes scored an extraordinary, even by his standards, 72 runs marred only by the injury to a spectator by a very big six over long-on.“ Bradman revealed in Farewell to Cricket that he felt obliged to give the crowd which had so cheered his achievement some reward for its wonderful feelings towards him. 

It was unheard for anyone except those who played in English first-class cricket to log up a hundred centuries because nowhere else were sufficient matches played to enable a batsman achieve the feat. That Bradman reached the landmark is hardly surprising, and this only underlines the huge gulf between him and the others. Indeed Amarnath, in his brusque and inimitable way wrote in The Sportstar, “I always considered him a Derby horse; the others were horses before the cart.” Of the hundredth run of that famous innings, Raymond Robertson-Glasgow stated, “at the historical statistical moment, when Bradman was about to go from 99 to 100 there was the Indian bowler trying to deliver the ball with one hand and applaud with the other, a feat that is beyond the most enthusiastic practitioner.”

To give an idea of how difficult it was for non-English first-class batsmen to score a hundred centuries, Bradman scored 41 tons in four English seasons, but 72 three-figure knocks in his 14 full Australian seasons, not considering his first and last seasons, and two seasons during the war when he played just a few games. In England he scored more than 10 hundreds per season, while in Australia he averaged just above five centuries in a season. That was because he played 120 innings in those four English seasons, but only 197 innings in his 14 full Australian seasons. If Bradman was English he would have scored 200 centuries, wet wickets or otherwise. Hobbs - whose career was about a decade longer - scored 197 hundreds in 1315 innings (a century every 6.67 innings); Bradman hit up 117 hundreds in 338 innings (a century every 2.88 innings). (Hobbs’ tally was revised to 199 centuries later).

Back to his 100^th hundred, Bradman was determined to get it in that innings. That is why he began slowly, got his eye in, assessed the wicket and the bowling, and accelerated when well set. That is what he usually did, but on this occasion it might have been a bit more exaggerated. Indian vice-captain Vijay Hazare observed this tendency, and he said in an interview with Cricket Talk: “He used to take a lot of singles and rotate the strike in the initial phase of his innings.” C.S. Nayudu supplemented this as he told The Sportstar, “His footwork was lightning fast and I have not known a batsman with a better technique and class. After the initial period when he would gauge the pitch and the attack, it was almost impossible to contain him.”

As the Indian cricket team tours Down Under, a flashback to Don Bradman’s 100th first-class hundred that he scored against the first Indian team to visit Australia in 1947-48. Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’

Appropriately, independent India’s first Test series was against Bradman’s Australians. The Don was a much loved and worshipped figure in India. It was said that apart from his own country, Bradman received the most letters from India. A succession of Indian cricketers from the captain of the 1947-48 team Lala Amarnath, to the present demi-god Sachin Tendulkar, spoke about their admiration and awe of Bradman, and many of them kept in regular touch with him, exchanging greetings and letters and speaking over the phone.

The Indian team missed a few of its top players. Vijay Merchant, who was designated captain, had to withdraw owing to health problems, as did Rusi Modi. Mushtaq Ali had a bereavement, while Fazal Mahmood, based in Lahore, was now a citizen of newly-created Pakistan. A fortnight before the Test series, there was a match between an Australian XI and the touring Indians at Sydney. Prior to this Bradman had scored his 99^th first-class century in a Sheffield Shield game. A huge crowd congregated at the Sydney Cricket Ground in anticipation of the great man’s 100^th hundred. The Indian team batted first and was all out for 326 on the second morning. Rob Lurie, Australian High Commissioner in India more than half a century later, was a wide-eyed young spectator on that historic occasion.

He wrote in a special issue of Cricket Talk in September 2000 to commemorate the 92^nd (and as it, sadly, turned out, last) birthday of Sir Donald Bradman: “The day was overcast. Bradman, by his standards at least, started sedately and for much of the pre and early after lunch sessions Miller was the dominant partner. So much so that when he reached his half-century before Bradman and to a rapturous reaction from the crowd, it looked as though the day belonged to Miller rather than to his captain. But a remarkable change came over the game as Miller suddenly seemed to appreciate this fact and went into his shell, working the strike so that Bradman had a good deal of the bowling and limiting his own flamboyant strokeplay to the occasional trademark and sublime cover drive. Bradman meanwhile got on with things with superb judgement, placement and running between the wickets until he reached 99 in the last over before tea. You can imagine how we all felt - Bradman later wrote ‘even in the most exciting Test match I can never remember a more emotional crowd nor a more electric atmosphere’.“

The High Commissioner continued: “Amarnath threw the ball to (Gogumal) Kishenchand. In my view this was a very shrewd move as Bradman like most of us in the crowd, had never seen him bowl, and the element of surprise can be critical at such a moment. Bradman was very careful with the first ball but the second he played off his pads on the on-side. As he and Miller ran through for the single, a huge cheer engulfed the ground and the Indian team rushed to congratulate a man they admired and liked. My family and I joined with many thousands in repeated singing of the refrain ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’.” Bradman himself recalled that cherished instant in his Farewell to Cricket: “Finally, with my score on 99, Amarnath called on G. Kishenchand, who was fielding on the boundary. He had not bowled before and I had no idea what type of bowler he was. It was a shrewd move, as one could have so easily been deceived but I treated him with the greatest respect until eventually came a single to mid on and the great moment had arrived.”

Don Bradman sprinting for his 100th run to complete 100 First-class Hundreds.

High Commissioner Lurie added, “After tea Bradman cut loose and in 45 minutes scored an extraordinary, even by his standards, 72 runs marred only by the injury to a spectator by a very big six over long-on.“ Bradman revealed in Farewell to Cricket that he felt obliged to give the crowd which had so cheered his achievement some reward for its wonderful feelings towards him. 

It was unheard for anyone except those who played in English first-class cricket to log up a hundred centuries because nowhere else were sufficient matches played to enable a batsman achieve the feat. That Bradman reached the landmark is hardly surprising, and this only underlines the huge gulf between him and the others. Indeed Amarnath, in his brusque and inimitable way wrote in The Sportstar, “I always considered him a Derby horse; the others were horses before the cart.” Of the hundredth run of that famous innings, Raymond Robertson-Glasgow stated, “at the historical statistical moment, when Bradman was about to go from 99 to 100 there was the Indian bowler trying to deliver the ball with one hand and applaud with the other, a feat that is beyond the most enthusiastic practitioner.”

To give an idea of how difficult it was for non-English first-class batsmen to score a hundred centuries, Bradman scored 41 tons in four English seasons, but 72 three-figure knocks in his 14 full Australian seasons, not considering his first and last seasons, and two seasons during the war when he played just a few games. In England he scored more than 10 hundreds per season, while in Australia he averaged just above five centuries in a season. That was because he played 120 innings in those four English seasons, but only 197 innings in his 14 full Australian seasons. If Bradman was English he would have scored 200 centuries, wet wickets or otherwise. Hobbs - whose career was about a decade longer - scored 197 hundreds in 1315 innings (a century every 6.67 innings); Bradman hit up 117 hundreds in 338 innings (a century every 2.88 innings). 

Back to his 100^th hundred, Bradman was determined to get it in that innings. That is why he began slowly, got his eye in, assessed the wicket and the bowling, and accelerated when well set. That is what he usually did, but on this occasion it might have been a bit more exaggerated. Indian vice-captain Vijay Hazare observed this tendency, and he said in an interview with Cricket Talk: “He used to take a lot of singles and rotate the strike in the initial phase of his innings.” C.S. Nayudu supplemented this as he told Vijay Lokapally of The Sportstar, “His footwork was lightning fast and I have not known a batsman with a better technique and class. After the initial period when he would gauge the pitch and the attack, it was almost impossible to contain him.”

Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com.

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Don’s Century is available at an attractive price on Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166859

Other books by Indra Vikram Singh available on Amazon:

A Maharaja’s Turf  https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166832

The Big Book of World Cup Cricket  https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166840

Crowning Glory  https://www.amazon.in/dp/8190166867

35 of the greatest batsmen in nearly 150 years of First-class and Test cricket history

WG Grace (England) ….. Tests span: 1880-1899,  Matches 22,  Highest Score 170,  Runs 1,098,  Average 32.29,  2 Centuries,  5 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1865-1908,  Matches 870,  Highest Score 344,  Runs 54,211,  Average 39.45,  124 Hundreds,  251 Fifties.

KS Ranjitsinhji (England) ….. Tests span: 1896-1902,  Matches 15,  Highest Score 175,  Runs 989,  Average 44.95,  2 Centuries,  6 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1893-1920,  Matches 307,  Highest Score 285*,  Runs 24,692,  Average 56.37,  72 Hundreds,  109 Fifties.  

Victor Trumper (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1899-1912,  Matches 48,  Highest Score 214*,  Runs 3,163,  Average 39.04,  8 Centuries,  13 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1894-1914,  Matches 255,  Highest Score 300*,  Runs 16,939,  Average 44.57,  42 Hundreds,  87 Fifties.

Charlie McCartney (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1907-1926,  Matches 35,  Highest Score 170,  Runs 2,131,  Average 41.78,  7 Centuries,  9 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1905-1927,  Matches 249,  Highest Score 345,  Runs 15,019,  Average 45.78,  49 Hundreds,  53 Fifties.

Jack Hobbs (England) ….. Tests span: 1908-1930,  Matches 61,  Highest Score 211,  Runs 5,410,  Average 56.94,  15 Centuries,  28 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1905-1934,  Matches 834,  Highest Score 316*,  Runs 61,760,  Average 50.70,  199 Hundreds,  273 Fifties.

Frank Woolley (England) ….. Tests span: 1909-1934,  Matches 64,  Highest Score 154,  Runs 3,283,  Average 36.07,  5 Centuries,  23 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1906-1938,  Matches 978,  Highest Score 305*,  Runs 58,959,  Average 40.77,  145 Hundreds,  295 Fifties. 

Bill Ponsford (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1924-1934,  Matches 29,  Highest Score 266,  Runs 2,122,  Average 48.22,  7 Centuries,  6 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1920-1934,  Matches 162,  Highest Score 437,  Runs 13,819,  Average 65.18,  47 Hundreds,  43 Fifties.

Wally Hammond (England) ….. Tests span: 1927-1947,  Matches 85,  Highest Score 336*,  Runs 7,249,  Average 58.45,  22 Centuries,  24 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1920-1951,  Matches 634,  Highest Score 336*,  Runs 50,551,  Average 56.10,  167 Hundreds,  185 Fifties.

Don Bradman (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1928-1948,  Matches 52,  Highest Score 334,  Runs 6,996,  Average 99.94,  29 Centuries,  13 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1927-1949,  Matches 234,  Highest Score 452*,  Runs 28,067,  Average 95.14,  117 Hundreds,  69 Fifties.

George Headley (West Indies) ….. Tests span: 1930-1954,  Matches 22,  Highest Score 270*,  Runs 2,190,  Average 60.83,  10 Centuries,  5 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1927-1954,  Matches 103,  Highest Score 344*,  Runs 9,921,  Average 69.86,  33 Hundreds,  44 Fifties.

Stan McCabe (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1930-1938,  Matches 39,  Highest Score 232,  Runs 2,748,  Average 48.21,  6 Centuries,  13 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1928-1942,  Matches 182,  Highest Score 240,  Runs 11,951,  Average 49.38,  29 Hundreds,  68 Fifties.

Bruce Mitchell (South Africa) ….. Tests span: 1929-1949,  Matches 42,  Highest Score 189*,  Runs 3,471,  Average 48.88,  8 Centuries,  21 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1925-1950,  Matches 173,  Highest Score 195,  Runs 11,395,  Average 45.39,  30 Hundreds,  55 Fifties.

Vijay Merchant (India) ….. Tests span: 1933-1951,  Matches 10,  Highest Score 154,  Runs 859,  Average 47.72,  3 Centuries,  3 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1929-1951, Matches 150,  Highest Score 359*,  Runs 13,470,  Average 71.64,  45 Hundreds,  52 Fifties.

Dudley Nourse (South Africa) ….. Tests span: 1935-1951,  Matches 34,  Highest Score 231,  Runs 2,960,  Average 53.81,  9 Centuries,  14 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1931-1953,  Matches 175,  Highest Score 260*,  Runs 12,472,  Average 51.53,  41 Hundreds,  54 Fifties.

Len Hutton (England) ….. Tests span: 1937-1955,  Matches 79,  Highest Score 364,  Runs 6,971,  Average 56.67,  19 Centuries,  33 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1934-1955,  Matches 513,  Highest Score 364,  Runs 40,140,  Average 55.51,  129 Hundreds,  177 Fifties.

Denis Compton (England) ….. Tests span: 1937-1957,  Matches 78,  Highest Score 278,  Runs 5,807,  Average 50.06,  17 Centuries,  28 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1936-1964,  Matches 515,  Highest Score 300,  Runs 38,942,  Average 51.85,  123 Hundreds,  183 Fifties.

Arthur Morris (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1946-1955,  Matches 46,  Highest Score 206,  Runs 3,533,  Average 46.48,  12 Centuries,  12 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1940-1955,  Matches 162,  Highest Score 290,  Runs 12,614,  Average 53.67,  46 Hundreds,  46 Fifties.

Frank Worrell (West Indies) ….. Tests span: 1948-1963,  Matches 51,  Highest Score 261,  Runs 3,860,  Average 49.48,  9 Centuries,  22 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1941-1964,  Matches 208,  Highest Score 308*,  Runs 15,025,  Average 54.24,  39 Hundreds,  80 Fifties.

Clyde Walcott (West Indies) ….. Tests span: 1948-1960,  Matches 44,  Highest Score 220,  Runs 3,798,  Average 56.68,  15 Centuries,  14 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1941-1964,  Matches 146,  Highest Score 314*,  Runs 11,820,  Average 56.55,  40 Hundreds,  54 Fifties.

Everton Weekes (West Indies) ….. Tests span: 1948-1958,  Matches 48,  Highest Score 207,  Runs 4,455,  Average 58.61,  15 Centuries,  19 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1944-1964,  Matches 152,  Highest Score 304*,  Runs 12,010,  Average 55.34,  36 Hundreds,  54 Fifties.

Neil Harvey (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1948-1963,  Matches 79,  Highest Score 205,  Runs 6,149,  Average 48.41,  21 Centuries,  24 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1946-1963,  Matches 306,  Highest Score 231*,  Runs 21,699,  Average 50.93,  67 Hundreds,  94 Fifties.

Hanif Mohammad (Pakistan) ….. Tests span: 1952-1969,  Matches 55,  Highest Score 337,  Runs 3,915,  Average 43.98,  12 Centuries,  15 Fifties; ….. First-class span:  1951-1976,  Matches 238,  Highest Score 499,  Runs 17,059,  Average 52.32,  55 Hundreds,  66 Fifties.

Gary Sobers (West Indies) ….. Tests span: 1954-1974,  Matches 93,  Highest Score 365*,  Runs 8,032,  Average 57.78,  26 Centuries,  30 Fifties; ….. First-class span:  1952-1974,  Matches 383,  Highest Score 365*,  Runs 28,314,  Average 54.87,  86 Hundreds,  121 Fifties.

Graeme Pollock (South Africa) ….. Tests span: 1963-1970,  Matches 23,  Highest Score 274,  Runs 2,256,  Average 60.97,  7 Centuries,  11 Fifties; ….. First-class span:  1960-1987,  Matches 262,  Highest Score 274,  Runs 20,940,  Average 54.67,  64 Hundreds,  99 Fifties.

Barry Richards (South Africa) ….. Tests span: 1970,  Matches 4,  Highest Score 140,  Runs 508,  Average 72.57,  2 Centuries,  2 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1964-1983,   Matches 339,  Highest Score 356,  Runs 28,358,  Average 54.74,  80 Hundreds,  152 Fifties.

Greg Chappell (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1970-1984,  Matches 87,  Highest Score 247*,  Runs 7,110,  Average 53.86,  24 Centuries,  31 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1966-1984,  Matches 321,  Highest Score 247*,  Runs 24,535,  Average 52.20,  74 Hundreds,  111 Fifties.

Sunil Gavaskar (India) ….. Tests span: 1971-1987,  Matches 125,  Highest Score 236*,  Runs 10,122,  Average 51.12,  34 Centuries,  45 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1966-1987,  Matches 348,  Highest Score 340,  Runs 25,834,  Average 51.46,  81 Hundreds,  105 Fifties.

Vivian Richards (West Indies) ….. Tests span: 1974-1991,  Matches 121,  Highest Score 291,  Runs 8,540,  Average 50.23,  24 Centuries,  45 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1971-1993,  Matches 507,  Highest Score 322,  Runs 36,212,  Average 49.40,  114 Hundreds,  162 Fifties.

Martin Crowe (New Zealand) ….. Tests span: 1982-1995,  Matches 77,  Highest Score 299,  Runs 5,444,  Average 45.36,  17 Centuries,  18 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1979-1996,  Matches 247,  Highest Score 299,  Runs 19,608,  Average 56.02,  71 Hundreds,  80 Fifties.

Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka) ….. Tests span: 1984-2002,  Matches 93,  Highest Score 267,  Runs 6,361,  Average 42.97,  20 Centuries,  22 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1983-2002,  Matches 220,  Highest Score 267,  Runs 15,000,  Average 48.38,  43 Hundreds,  71 Fifties.

Steve Waugh (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1985-2004,  Matches 168,  Highest Score 200,  Runs 10,927,  Average 51.06,  32 Centuries,  50 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1984-2004,  Matches 356,  Highest Score 216*,  Runs 24,052,  Average 51.94,  79 Hundreds,  97 Fifties.

Brian Lara (West Indies) ….. Tests span: 1990-2006,  Matches 131,  Highest Score 400*,  Runs 11,953,  Average 52.88,  34 Centuries,  48 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1987-2008,  Matches 261,  Highest Score 501*,  Runs 22,156,  Average 51.88,  65 Hundreds,  88 Fifties.

Sachin Tendulkar (India) ….. Tests span: 1989-2013,  Matches 200,  Highest Score 248*,  Runs 15,921,  Average 53.78,  51 Centuries,  68 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1988-2013,  Matches 310,  Highest Score 248*,  Runs 25,396,  Average 57.84,  81 Hundreds,  116 Fifties.

Matthew Hayden (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1994-2009,  Matches 103,  Highest Score 380,  Runs 8,625,  Average 50.73,  30 Centuries,  29 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1991-2009,  Matches 295,  Highest Score 380,  Runs 24,603,  Average 52.57,  79 Hundreds,  100 Fifties.

Ricky Ponting (Australia) ….. Tests span: 1995-2012,  Matches 168,  Highest Score 257,  Runs 13,378,  Average 51.85,  41 Centuries,  62 Fifties; ….. First-class span: 1992-2013,  Matches 289,  Highest Score 257,  Runs 24,150,  Average 55.90,  82 Hundreds,  106 Fifties.

These 35 batsmen are featured in Indra Vikram Singh's book 'Don's Century', which is a biography of Don Bradman and a panorama of batting from the 1860s till the present times. Author Indra Vikram Singh can be contacted on email singh_iv@hotmail.com.