Don Bradman’s scoring rates in relation to his team and opponents

Don Bradman consistently scored at a higher rate than his team Australia as well as their opponents in Test cricket. In his 52-Test career, spanning 11 series, he scored at a rate of 3.70 runs per over. Australia managed 2.90 runs per over and opposing teams 2.30 runs per over in the same period.

This is adjusted for six-ball overs as there were eight-ball overs in operation during home series that Sir Don Bradman played in 1936-37, 1946-47, and 1947-48. Balls faced by batsmen were not recorded during the 1930-31 and 1931-21 series, hence approximate scoring rates were arrived at based on over-rates.

In fact, Bradman scored much faster than his team as well as opponents in every series except his last - in 1948 against England. In that series, Sir Don Bradman produced runs at 2.77 per over, marginally less than his team’s rate of 2.79 but well ahead of England’s 2.32. In that series, Bradman scored at 29.08 runs an hour, with an average of 21 overs bowled every hour.

Bradman’s lowest scoring-rate was in his debut series - in 1928-29 against England - when he managed a rate of 2.53 runs per over. That was still far ahead of Australia’s rate of 2.19 and England’s 2.30 in that series.

Sir Don Bradman clocked 28.50 runs per hour in this particular series. At that time, an average of 22.50 overs were wheeled down every hour. This was the highest over rate that the Aussie icon faced in his career.

In his other nine series, the Don scored at higher than 3 runs per over, and sometimes above 4 runs an over. This came to more than 30 and 40 runs an hour.

In that landmark 1930 series in England where he amassed a record 974 runs, Bradman cruised at 3.69 runs an over. Australia averaged 2.71 runs per over, while England were marginally behind at 2.66 in the same series.

Don Bradman scored at 4.72 runs per over against West Indies in 1930-31

The highest scoring rate of Bradman’s Test career was in the next series of the 1930-31 season, at home against the West Indies. In that contest, he raced at 4.72 runs per over.

Australia scored at 3.29 runs an over while the West Indies eked out 2.37 runs every over. Bradman blasted 47.21 runs an hour while the over rate was 20.

The Don kept scoring merrily, much quicker than his team and his opponents, the latter being invariably slower than Australia. Doubtless, the Australian scoring rate was boosted by Bradman’s aggressive batting.

The lowest over-rate by opponents during Bradman’s career was in the Bodyline series in 1932-33, when England managed just 16.71 overs an hour. This might have been a result of constant adjustments in field placings.

Bradman averaged 222 runs in a six-hour day

In sum, Sir Don's average of 3.70 runs per over during his Test career - 37 runs an hour - was in an era when the bowlers usually clocked 20 overs per hour. Bradman hit an average of 222 runs in a six-hour day.

Don Bradman was not just a run-machine, he was an entertainer too, who turned his side into an all-conquering one. No wonder his 1948 team was called ‘The Invincibles’.

Source: Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’, a cricketing biography of Don Bradman and a panorama of batting from the 1860s to present times.