Don Bradman's Duck - Numberphile

One of the most famous stories from the sort of cricket involves numbers, averages, and a duck.
More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓
Archive footage courtesy of AP Archive:
/ aparchive
* Batting average list shown was current in December 2017. It includes one still active player (Australian Steve Smith) whose average will change. It is a list that uses a threshold of 20 matches minimum. Different lists use different minimums for matches, innings, or runs scored to weed out freakish cases.
** Comparing athletes, especially across sports, is notoriously difficult and more of a conversation starter than exact science. An interesting article here: www.statslife.org.uk/sports/1...
*** A lower "not out" score in Bradman's next innings would also have made a 100+ average possible, but that's a very unlikely scenario in the "first innings" of a match. I did not want the video getting bogged down by intricacies and unlikely scenarios. In case you are curious, here is the scorecard for the next match Australia played... www.howstat.com/cricket/Statis...
Numberphile is supported by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI): bit.ly/MSRINumberphile
We are also supported by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science.
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[@culwin]

100 is my bowling average

[@gardenhead92]

It's my golfing average

[@Tevildo]

culwin - Ten-pin or cricket?

[@michaelhird432]

If anybody actually got this joke they would be congatulating you. Congatulations.

[@smartgorilla219]

My bowling average is 15 and batting is 20

[@kinshutiwari6976]

culwin Ahah boy u made me laugh

[@rodcampbell8231]

For those who don't know. The PO box number of the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) in each capital city is 9994. This is no coincidence. The ABC assumed this would be an easy number to remember because all Australians would know Don Bradman's average.

[@moinuddinkhan593]

😅😅😅 I see, He is that famous.

[@JT29501]

Small correction - Don Bradman didn't know it was his last innings, he (and the english team) knew it was his last game. It was only because the Aussie team won by an innings that Don didn't need to bat again and therefore didn't get a chance to make his average over 100 again!

[@AmitKumar-nq7wk]

Also Don and nobody else had an idea about his avg. There was no internet and electronic media back in those days and print media never cared about personal stats of any sportsmen. If media didn't know then no one else would know.

[@HaqqaniKiyamudeen-mi9xy]

he would still need to score 104

[@JT29501]

Quite doable!@@HaqqaniKiyamudeen-mi9xy

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

@@AmitKumar-nq7wk That's nonsense. Newspapers printed averages, Wisden published them each year, of course they knew what Bradman's average was.

[@borgeman]

Having Dizzy Gillespie in the images of centurions was the highlight of this vid.

[@aswinsc6118]

Quite a weird one though

[@Xavier-000]

He scored a hundred then a double century. It has merit

[@rafatulalam8677]

@@Xavier-000 That was against the quality side Bangladesh though :P

[@Xavier-000]

@@rafatulalam8677 That's why it's even more special.

[@siddharth.gautam]

Hahaha did not expect him

[@lawjef]

Great. Now my American friends are going to think that Shaun Marsh and Don Bradman are comparable. There might be greater travesties in life but I am struggling to think of any

[@samsowden]

Jason Gillespie being held up as a batting peer of Bradman? It's right there in the same video.

[@edbee8508]

And Adam Voges running second on the list.

[@polarisgemini52]

And Adam Vogues lol

[@TomParkinson]

Adam Voges average against the West Indies is 542

[@mysss29]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm American, and after watching this video I have no idea who any of them are except Bradman. xD

[@screw0dog]

As a subtle nod to Bradman, the ABC (in Australia) chose their postal address as Locked Bag 9994 in each capital city.

[@blessedslave]

Well he doesn't have to score 104 in the next innings. He just need to stay 4 not out

[@narendratripathi1684]

He could have just stayed not out by not batting in that inning declaring retired hurt for a guaranteed average of 101+, seems so silly of him to that kind of risk

[@jordanchaq]

Yeah I mean I guess if he really cared about the average they could have put him in at number 11 and chances are he wouldn’t get out. Lol

[@russe19642]

@@narendratripathi1684 howd you work that out,he would have needed at least 4 runs

[@narendratripathi1684]

@@russe19642 Because I know maths ☺️. Just score 4 runs and retire hurt in next match also to get exactly 100 as average

[@russe19642]

@@narendratripathi1684 yeah ok,i thought you meant he just needed to just bat without scoring and getting out,my faukt

[@ayushprasad6159]

Mathematics and cricket fit each other perfectly.

[@siddharth.gautam]

Oh so much!

[@user-xf8pb4jh3o]

Agreed

[@ASAlan-sh8kf]

Arghobotto the person who invented o is responsible for this.

[@iameverywhere8551]

Legit true Cricket helped me with maths especially arthemetic operations

[@abhyanshsharma8019]

​@@iameverywhere8551same.

[@santhoshk.v3728]

Numberphile about cricket = Instant click

[@yasir5422]

LOL same

[@talalzahid2241]

curry boy

[@AlligatorAndrew]

Indian blood

[@madsam9403]

dothead brownie

[@talalzahid2241]

@SS week(calltime) var8 date var8_tmus count(1) avg(Final_orderRGU) VA 0 0 2021-01-01 0000000 408 0.1495 0.0656 0 1 2021-01-01 CA01400 1560 0.1808 0.0137 1 0 2021-01-03 0000000 1540 0.1403 0.0595 1 1 2021-01-03 0001000 5439 0.1789 0.0635 2 0 2021-01-10 0000000 1588 0.1083 -0.0108 2 1 2021-01-10 0001000 6668 0.1641 0.0275 3 0 2021-01-17 0000000 1901 0.0921 0.0166 3 1 2021-01-17 0001000 7622 0.1593 0.0608 4 0 2021-01-24 0000000 1040 0.0721 -0.0182 4 1 2021-01-24 0001000 4113 0.1400 0.0353 48 0 2020-12-01 0000000 1403 0.1511 0.0861 48 1 2020-12-01 0001000 5072 0.2212 0.0612 49 0 2020-12-06 0000000 2065 0.1593 0.0924 49 1 2020-12-06 0001000 8463 0.2057 0.0751 50 0 2020-12-13 0000000 2538 0.1158 0.0831 50 1 2020-12-13 0001000 9808 0.1990 0.0725 51 0 2020-12-20 0000000 1876 0.1285 0.0528 51 1 2020-12-20 0001000 7398 0.1936 0.0384 52 0 2020-12-27 0000000 1644 0.1296 0.0506 52 1 2020-12-27 0001000 5878 0.1965 0.0533

[@StRoRo]

I love the shock of the England players when he gets out.

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

It's not shock, its rejoice, common upon taking an opponent batsman's wicket.

[@HighLordBlazeReborn]

@@aniksamiurrahman6365 that's not rejoicing. Most of the English team on camera just stands there not knowing what to do. They don't cheer, nothing.

[@guest_informant]

"The statistics show that "no other athlete dominates an international sport to the extent that Bradman does cricket".[3] In order to post a similarly dominant career statistic as Bradman, a baseball batter would need a career batting average of .392, while a basketball player would need to score an average of 43.0 points per game."

[@Tevildo]

Bob - No, Wikipedia is correct here. The mean MLB baseball score is .2875 with a standard deviation of 0.018. I suppose the intriguing question is not so much "was Bradman the greatest?", but "why is the variance of baseball averages so small?"

[@ffggddss]

And what was Ted Williams' career BA?

[@pronkb000]

There probably isn't a comparison between Bradman and any other team sportsman, but Gretzky is probably a closer analogue than Ruth or any baseball player. Wayne Gretzky has more assists than any other NHL player has assists and goals combined.

[@brianmiller1077]

Williams is similar story to The Don in that his career was split by war (Korea in Ted's case)

[@brianmiller1077]

I think slugging percentage is a more valid comparison because a hit counts a 1 a double as 2 triple as three and a home run as 4. Maybe re-work it so it's 1, 2, 4,and 6 to match cricket scoring

[@darnellyiadom3596]

I love how you had to explain the cricket terms such as half century and century in so much depth for non fans

[@lemao_squash4486]

Darnell Yiadom so much debth? He only told us what it meant in a few words and that the crowd applauds them once they succeed. Wouldn't call it much of debth

[@AHBelt]

And then he leaves the one in the title ('duck'='goose egg'=0, right? I'm American.) for us to guess at. Just kidding.

[@greensteve9307]

I know, right? It's easy to forget that people in other countries like the USA aren't as privileged as us.

[@Italiankid1029]

That's a damn shame. I've never been so upset about something I'm so unfamiliar with before

[@oz_jones]

IKR?

[@MARKCRASTO]

Hahahah 😂. As a cricket fan, this made me laugh hard

[@greensteve9307]

As an Aussie, it's so funny hearing you to explain the basics of cricket and who Don Bradman is. That is just common knowledge to us.

[@agrajyadav2951]

​@@lonesomeleopard934yes

[@agrajyadav2951]

​@@lonesomeleopard934but Kohli is better overall.

[@sparshsharma5270]

​@@agrajyadav2951 Smith is best Test player currently and Kohli is best player across formats currently.

[@RaviKumar-wy9vr]

​@@sparshsharma5270what format? What's his current ranking

[@sparshsharma5270]

@@RaviKumar-wy9vr By 'format', I mean different types of cricket: Test, ODI, T20I. And Kohli is the one who has excelled in all of them. Definitely best player of this generation.

[@Gakulon]

What a Brady intro. He's in Australia about to watch a game of cricket, and he takes the time he has to record a Numberphile video

[@brianmiller1077]

It's not just any cricket game, it's the Ashes in his nome town.

[@OriginalPiMan]

An Ashes test in Adelaide is common enough. Around every 4 years, I think.

[@timspiers6225]

They don't start until 10 o'clock ( I think in Australia) so he had plenty of time.

[@Shyamjr96]

Adelaide was hosting Day Night. Root choosing to bowl like Nasser. Englishmen so funny

[@johanrichter2695]

Some other cricket videos: Do a video on Duckworth-Lewis next. Much more substantial mathematical content in that. Alternatively you can address whether not-outs distort averages upward like some feel. (Wrongly, probably, if you think about it mathematically.)

[@pransaha]

Really need that. All my life i have tried to understand it but couldn't

[@Jivvi]

What do you mean by distorting averages upwards? If you look at an average expecting it to represent the average runs scored per innings, they do, but that's not what an average is measuring.

[@johanrichter2695]

Some people think that if a player did ended his innings not out less frequently because of fewer declarations or because his partners stayed in longer, that his average would be expected to go down. You often hear it said of lower-order batsmen that their averages are distorted by not-outs caused by running out of partners.

[@johanrichter2695]

But if innings continued you could also score more runs. The two effects basically cancel.

[@harsh.thakkar]

Johan Richter we all need an explanation for that one

[@EmilMacko]

HMM YOU COULD ALMOST SAY IT WAS A PARKER CENTURY AVERAGE

[@xja85mac]

At least he gave it a go

[@renerpho]

If 100=10² is a square then 99.94 is a Parker square indeed.

[@cubethesquid3919]

This comment made me very happy. Thank you

[@MaeveFirstborn]

Oh, hey, Emil.

[@IIARROWS]

You won... Please, pin this comment!

[@connoryoung1993]

Jason Gillespie celebrating his only three figure score! Haha

[@numberphile]

;)

[@Banzybanz]

That was his last Test. He never played for Australia in Tests again.

[@SilentHotdog28]

Dropped after scoring a double century, never heard of before.

[@jithuvijayakumar8319]

@@SilentHotdog28 dropped after a triple century! Karun nair

[@shaksiyat]

@@jithuvijayakumar8319 🤣🤣🤣 your comment deserves noble

[@Phantomthecat]

Listening to you describe Cricket, scoring and averages here in Australia is kind of funny as we seem to be born here knowing everything about Cricket. :). Great to see you take The Don’s story to so many others that may not know it though. Hope you enjoyed the Cricket in Adelaide - it’s a great ground.

[@mondoke]

Ok, I'm not into sports and not even close to being interested on cricket, but this is an excellent and very enjoyable video. I loved it.

[@anirudhbhalekar]

I once did a research projects in sir don bradman I remember feeling so sad whenever I learnt about his duck out on the last match

[@joechief2456]

I mean, watching this it was probably a much happier match than when the English invented bodyline bowling to try and stop him dominating their matches. Sure, he got a duck, but like he said he was in it to play and everyone, including the English in that match, gave him a happy welcome and a warm sendoff. I can think of worse ways to retire.

[@marknorris1381]

You'd have to say a test average of 100 would pretty well be perfection. And probably no one is meant to be perfect. Personally I think if he was into personal achievements he could have delayed his retirement to get it (and he would have) and then retired but he said he was retiring and did.

[@maacpiash]

I knew a large portion of this video would be explaining cricket for the viewers from non-Commonwealth countries.

[@seamonster936]

Md. Abdul Ahad Chowdhury And possibly Canadians.

[@nathyatta]

I remember hearing that averages were not really a thing back then and the Don wasn’t even aware of his average or this potential milestone

[@kelbot84]

He didn’t need 104 in the next match, he just needed to score four and remain not out, which he quite a bit batting at #6, then not bat in the second innings. Loved the footage, I had never seen the dismissal before or seen him speak during his cricketing years.

[@numberphile]

It's pretty unlikely a top order batsman would get a four not out in the first innings of the next match... If you look through his career that's pretty much unheard of... Not something a team player would do either... But yes it was possible.

[@captapraelium1591]

Yeh mate you're mathematically correct but just look at the sportsmanship shown here. What's the probability that those players would do that? I'd hazard a guess it's approaching zero :)

[@BigTallLankyDude]

But he didn't play to game the scoring system just to pad his average. No one I've heard of does that.

[@venkateshsubramanian3578]

Does a 'retired hurt' also count as a 'out'? If not, then he could score a four and leave as retired hurt...

[@RogerBarraud]

Capta Praelium Absolutely! If you allowed that sort of thing, next thing they'd be bowling underarm just to win a match. :-)

[@AlRoderick]

Is this the first time you've personally presented a main Numberphile video? I can't recall, I know you've done a few side pieces like the bts for the mile of pi...

[@Snaperkid]

Alexander Roderick He presented the knights tour a while back.

[@Aussie.Owlcoholic]

Noticed he's in Adelaide, is that where he's from? If so I'm living there too so I should totally get him to help me with a math problem I'm having in my current software project haha

[@SimskeD]

He grew up in Adelaide, but now lives in Bristol, UK

[@carbrickscity]

He also presented the last Graham's number video.

[@karlkastor]

He did some dice rolling videos alone.

[@CravinHawk]

I wonder what Bairstow's headbutt average is?

[@HorizonKshitiz]

That Gillespie picture with Kohli and smith is cheeky

[@OlafDoschke]

I don't watch cricket, but what a remarkable story.

[@planetx1595]

You watch Baseball instead?

[@kartikey8068]

Murica ??

[@thomas316]

Don Bradman wasn't just exceptional, his career was truely a "black swan" event.

[@CricketInsights]

Great video! Really great to see Bradman's averages go up and down in his career! Great work!

[@alltoohuman01]

Nice to see a bit of Australiana!

[@gorillaau]

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.

[@craigfindlay2330]

Oi Oi Oi

[@phampton6781]

I don't know about cricket but this was very watchable. I like how half the video is explaining how the scoring works!

[@maxshiraz3447]

He played at a time more difficult for batsmen than today. Fewer fielding restrictions (e.g. bodyline), pitches that were not covered overnight (i.e. sticky wickets) and larger stumps.

[@andyleighton3616]

Yep the pitch at The Oval in the video looked pretty rough. I was also surprised by how gentle the bowling looked - which must be an artifact of the filming as it looked more at home in village cricket.

[@maxshiraz3447]

Agreed. I've seen heavy tracks at Flemington with better surfaces

[@dwood2001]

I think it was more difficult in some ways, and less difficult in others. I imagine bowling probably was a lot slower and less sophisticated. Sport in general has come a long way since then--people fine-tune their skills to a ridiculous extent. However, to what extent easier bowling, a rougher pitch, and fewer fielding restrictions etc. balance out is anybody's guess. If an all-powerful deity told me that Bradman would have averaged 50 in today's cricket, I'd believe it. Then again, if someone said he'd average 120 I'd believe that too. Really hard to say.

[@maxshiraz3447]

Fair comments. I wonder how a batsmen of the distant past (e.g. Victor Trumper, who averaged 37) would do if he could use Dave Warner's bat and not have to bat on a sticky wickets. Also if they ever got to play on flat sub-continent pitches that may boost the average as well.

[@nawangdawa7994]

David Wood The point is, no other batsman , not even his contemporaries came close to his monstrous average. His contemporaries do not even figure in the highest averages.

[@benno920]

Nice Garry!

[@matheuroux5134]

Yowie BOWLING GARRY

[@abirbhavgoswami]

GORGEOUS GARRY!

[@nawjoghschool2714]

nice geza

[@viranchijani6322]

Nice Gary

[@shafinmostafiz9841]

Nice one GAZZA

[@georgedoty-williams2085]

2:43 Fascinating hearing Don Bradman speak for the first time. Ngl, I expected him to have a deeper voice

[@anujmchitale]

This video brought tears of awe. The enigma of Don Bradman!

[@matthewrobbins5493]

Wonderful video :) could tell Brady really enjoyed making it, and great to hear the actual numbers from Bradmans career. Great music too

[@hazard7732]

I highly respected everything that went into this video. From Brady's editing and cometary, to Don's respect over his loss. I've never known anything about cricket, but I'll surely remember the name Donald Bradman.

[@mysss29]

+

[@explorewithswarup8129]

Remember the name VIRAT KOHLI

[@marknorris1381]

@@explorewithswarup8129 great player, exciting player, but people outside cricket and fans would probably not. But on the other hand, when the former Australian prime minister visited Nelson Mandella in jail in South Africa in the 80's the first thing Mandela said, after having been locked away for over 20 years, and Bradman's career finishing 38 years earlier, was 'Can you tell me, is Sir Donald Bradman still alive?'

[@cubethesquid3919]

This is one of my favorite videos you've done! Great job!

[@sjmarel]

Hey Brady, thanks for this video. You know, it's nice to have you taking the mic and telling a story. I watch this channel for the joy of math, of course. But I also watch it for my support to creators I find gifted and sincere.

[@ajaychawla7]

Being a indian I know everything about this incident But watched for numberphile

[@marnuscoreyempanadaslooseb6760]

You probably think Kohlis better than Smith.

[@ajaychawla7]

@@marnuscoreyempanadaslooseb6760 nah dude I am smith fan And he is a better batsman than kohli in crunch situations and far better test batsmam

[@PJ-cm8ix]

@@ajaychawla7 Yeah looks like the Gabba was not 'crunch' enough

[@marnuscoreyempanadaslooseb6760]

@xmr7 pt95 mate so your saying Smiths worse because he’s not a T20 player? Also Kohli didn’t get banned for 12 months and has always been a batsman

[@marnuscoreyempanadaslooseb6760]

@xmr7 pt95 so Finch is better than Smith because he’s better in ODIs and T20 you’re argument doesn’t stack up

[@RolandHutchinson]

We American fans of Inspector Morse have of course heard of "Bradman's famous duck." And now, finally, we know why it was famous.

[@OrionFyre]

This is a great video Brady. A little different from the typical Numberphile format but very enjoyable! More like this would be a fun addition to your lineup.

[@BoogieMan2718]

Awesome video Brady. I've been wanting to learn more about cricket and this was a great start!

[@garden7863]

He could have batted No,. 10 in the next test and scored those 4 runs not out ..and then declare....so simple

[@numberphile]

The next Test was a ways off.

[@AmitSingh-ur4ll]

don Bradman is a best example that you don't have to be perfect to be a legend

[@Lastonestanding7]

He WAS PERFECT!

[@musicalBurr]

What a great episode of Numberphile - Brady going solo with a solid message for us all! Good work.

[@magicalpencil]

that was nice Brady! I like your more personal videos because you have such a genuine interest in the subject and it shows! :)

[@DJ-ct6so]

The photo at the end of the video (5:45) can't be Sir Don's final innings, because the bowler is delivering from over the wicket (or more likely, left arm around). At 4:33 you can see that Eric Hollies bowled the fatal delivery from around the wicket. My uncle Peter (who died just short of his 101st birthday in 2014) was among the crowd during the final 'bodyline' test in Sydney, 1933, watching the game with *his* uncle. In that match, Don scored 48 & 71 at a strike rate of approx 100, despite facing fast bouncers bowled at his head, with no protection and a packed leg side field, for a decent part of it. In the second innings, Don stepped away to leg and upper cut Larwood for consecutive fours through the unpopulated cover region, forcing (England captain) Jardine to change his field, and eventually replace Larwood with the slow left armer Verity. Bradman hit two more fours off Verity, a straight drive and a late cut, but later yorked himself attempting to force Verity away. I heard a great story about Don: he was being interviewed just after the WI speedster Andy Roberts had skittled Australia in Perth, taking 7/54. The late Richie Benaud asked Don how many he would average against bowlers of Roberts' pace, and Don told him "about 50". Richie asked Don if he was being too modest, and Don replied "well I am almost 70 years old".

[@swashbucklertube]

Donald Duck on the last match

[@02muarij92]

Better than being a Donald Trump. He would call the Umpire fake for giving him out.

[@adityasanthosh702]

@@02muarij92 lol

[@pabloagsutinnavavieyra2308]

Thanks Brady for that interesting video! I love hearing about this sport stories that come with a valiable lesson :)

[@kiran9696]

Wow. So beautifully explained.... He sure was a legend.

[@deezynar]

Excellence in any pursuit is admirable, to be that far above your peers is amazing. I'm an American and don't follow cricket, but my hat is off to Mr. Bradman.

[@tohrulol]

Excellent video.

[@lotrnerd5037]

WAiting for a cricket vid from you since ndq’s. It was awesome.

[@VerdaTal]

Late to the game, but thanks for this. I randomly heard about the "Greatest sportsman" claim but didn't know how to parse the numbers. This was informative on so many levels.

[@cycklist]

Surely the first ever Numberphile video featuring only Brady!

[@nimbletim]

First time someone says hi or hello at the beginning of a Numberphile video 😂

[@andresmlinar]

Great video Brady! I enjoy all your channels. I liked seeing a video made only by you.

[@brianpso]

LOVED this story Brady! Despite the sad ending, his career was legendary and now I can say that I know who he is! Thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful piece of history.

[@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S.]

Question: Was Don Bradman's voice ridiculously high, or is it the quality of recording at the time? I mean, the guy's a legend, obviously, but it's hard to take him seriously when he sounds like he just got done huffing a bunch of helium.

[@spinn4ntier487]

It's his regional accent

[@MaggotDiggo1]

Interesting how much the Australian accent has changed in just over 100 years. No Australian sounds like that now.

[@RogerBarraud]

Not quite 100 years ... ...and you're a Numberphilophile? :-/

[@nickhanlon9331]

He was known for his squeaky voice as well as his batting average.

[@donna25871]

It’s the accent and timbre of the Australian voice at the time - but also a little about the recording speed (but only a little).

[@Ernest_Thesiger]

4:16 A lot of people don't realise that this was Australia's 1st Innings and that it was still only Day 1 of the Test. So England's players certainly didn't know it was Bradman's last innings. If it hadn't been for England's very poor effort with the bat(52 and 188 all-out!) or Arthur Morris' brilliant 196, then The Don would've had the chance to bat a 2nd innings in this Test and score the amount of runs needed to finish with a Test average of 100. 5:23 A Not Out score of 4 or above would've sufficed.

[@jonglewongle3438]

One thinks that Arthur Morris might well have been Man Of The Match in this instance.

[@ClorindeASMRWhen]

Once again the English batting lineup ruined everything.

[@thomasrad5202]

I really enjoyed this Brady only video! Hoping to see more of these in the future?

[@SunayH01]

Brilliant video Brady. Reckon this is the first cricket related Numberphile.

[@pransaha]

Bon Bradman is not special because of the number , the number is special because of Don Bradman

[@pransaha]

meaturama you didn't get my point

[@anitanegi9706]

meaturama he said that he is so great that no. 0 is special because of don bradman

[@hsnhussain]

meaturama wooosh

[@marksheehan8026]

@meaturama hey dude did you actually read that comment... go back to sleep

[@nagaslrac]

@meaturama I'm pretty sure you're special.

I'm going to the Boxing Day Test which I'm pretty excited about

[@ma276]

This was a great video!

[@TruthNerds]

For anyone else who is as clueless about cricket rules as I am… he was dismissed because the ball hit his wicket (the pieces of wood behind the batsman). You can see the *bails* falling off of the *stumps* in the video. It's roughly like the opponent scoring a goal. The batsman doesn't need to score, but he does need to defend the wicket. AFAIK and IANACF though as you can guess (I am not a cricket fan). This is what I found in a quick web search.

[@sujayjoshi381]

Did I just see Gillespie in the video about batting? Wtf numberphile..

[@Jivvi]

Well, he did score a double century as night watchman. So yeah.

[@countdown2extintion]

Finally a cricket video on numberphile... well what can i say. thank you.

[@nozrep]

very cool. i love history and numberphile! and as a Texan who really doesn't know the first thing about cricket, i thought this was a really cool story and i learned about the sport a little bit too! thank you Brady!

[@fernandob890]

More videos!! Thanks numberphile!!

[@p4m209]

One of my great great uncles played with him

[@Eyalkamitchi1]

i choose to believe he chose to miss the ball

[@oscarfriberg7661]

I enjoyed this more personal style of video. You should do it more often :)

[@desia.brimou]

I'd like to see more videos like this, this one was amazing.

[@bhavyashah6084]

Ahh... Please stop showing averages... I can't see Adam Voges above other greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Viv Richards

[@timspiers6225]

Averages go up and down. What was Voges' final average?

[@emilchandran546]

@@timspiers6225 that is his final average, 61. However averages can also be skewed by smaller data sets. Voges played far fewer games than Richards, Tendulkar, Smith etc. so he didn’t need to sustain that high average the same way Smith has. But at the end of the day, frankly his average is amazing. I’ve always thought he was an under appreciated batsman. I should also say that in order to be a “valid” batting average, most databases and or reference books will exclude players who played fewer than 20 innings. Voges played 20 matches so probably close to 40 innings. So it’s not like he just scraped in.

[@meroboli2091]

4:57 anyone noticed the umpires. How focused he is😂

[@meremannkibaten4540]

In olden times there was no review system so they had to give decisions manually so they remained as to give the right decision

[@lobsterthatisofrock]

i was watching last weekend and wondered if you were at the test brady, what a match!

[@maniam5460]

I didn’t know numberphile would have content on my other passion cricket! U mentioned an average as a yardstick for a batsman’s value and, whilst I know that you were just simplifying in order to explain it, I think a video on advanced stats in sports would be interesting

[@cedricgist7614]

I knew I'd seen this before, but couldn't recall where. Bradman was the only cricketing name I knew before "Slumdog Millionaire" when I caught "Ricky Ponting." It was only this late summer into fall that I began to study Cricket: I'm a lifelong Baseball fan with all my prejudices and predilections. Despite its long history of elitism, Cricket is a noble sport no less worthy of appreciation than Baseball. In fact, Cricket trails only International Football as the most popular sport on the planet, with those crazy sub-Continent fans fueling the fire. But, before I learned about W.G. Grace, Jack Hobbs, the Aborigine team, Bodyline, Garfield Sobers, Geoffrey Boycott, Nawab Pataudi, Ian Chappell, the Four Horsemen of the West Indies, Shane Warne, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Sachin Tendulkar, or Virat Kohli - I learned that Don Bradman proved to be human through this video. I had a geometry teacher who gave 7-question Monday tests and never awarded more than 99.999% score. So, Don Bradman's career Test average was right up my alley.

[@kinshutiwari6976]

Very well written

[@maxlambie7788]

(Assuming ur an american), cricket is a beautiful sport, its the fine literature of the sports, almost an art. im really happy its getting a following over there.

[@emilygibson8445]

I live in Adelaide and regularly drive on sir Donald Bradman Drive but never knew who he was

[@seamonster936]

Emily Gibson You're not very good at being Australian, are you?

[@musicalneptunian]

Peter Dutton: To the detention centre! Out!!!!

[@anamikarai7240]

PLZ DO MORE CRICKETING STORIES BRADY . THIS WAS AMAZING

[@fizixx]

Very interesting. Good post, thanks.

[@stephenhosking7384]

A couple of comments on that average and his legacy, which I've heard from Bradman himself in interviews. Firstly, he was not aware when he went out to bat that he only needed four runs for a century average, because averages were not continuously calculated and published as they are now. When he was asked about that final duck ("0") he seemed not *too* troubled by it, as it was just one detail in a monumental career. He was able to chuckle about it, and said that if the English players knew they probably would have given him the four runs! Secondly, Bradman considered that his high scores contributed more to his teams than other high scorers contributed to theirs because of the fast rate he scored them, which would take the game away from the opposition in a few hours. He was very much a one man "match winner". Of those others with VERY high averages (around 60), the only one noted as a fast scorer ("attacking") was Gary Sobers. It seems that the ones with 50 to 57 (2:30) are generally regarded as the "greatest batsmen" - apart from Bradman.

[@tony6666]

3:37. I'd retire immediately

[@masteringmaths]

Fantastic thank you. Will use this with year 8. They are all cricketing mad!

[@alexanderjefferies7740]

As a massive fan of golf I greatly appreciate that you included a picture of Jack Nicklaus when discussing figures dominant in their respective sports

[@faisalnawaz804]

0:33 whats dales steyn doing there

[@timhuff]

Numberphile has a sportsball corner now?

[@noahzuniga]

sports are a holy grail for anything number

[@deebadubbie]

Superb! Thanks for sharing.

[@sumner1107]

so happy i subscribed to cricketphile

[@gunjeetsingh90]

1:31 Numberphile logic: We need to show some of the most prolific batsmen. Lets show Jason Gillespie

[@sugarfrosted2005]

Isn't a century how long most cricket games last?

[@ajstyles3229]

sugarfrosted Nope. Basically the team that scores the most runs wins. As simple as that. The first team batting sets a target score for their opponent (by making runs), while the bowling team (the opponent) tries to stop them from setting a large score (by taking wickets). The second team batting chases that score (again, by making runs) while the other team tries to defend it (again, by taking wickets). Whichever team is successful is in their respective objective (i.e. chasing the score or defending the score) wins.

[@eatingsfun]

I got this and found it very funny.

[@whiteflagstoo]

There are faster versions of cricket. Limited overs cricket can be done very quickly.

[@PrimoPete]

Generally speaking, there are 3 types of cricket matches that are in practice. Test Cricket- Lasts on an average 4-5 days with around 8 hours played everyday including the intervals. It comes under the classification of first class cricket. One day International cricket- These usually last for 6-8 hours as there are only 50 overs given to each team. Comes under the classification of limited overs cricket. And is the most played form of professional cricket right now. T20 - This is the rather popular version of cricket right now with T20 leagues popping up all over the world and lasts only 3 hours as there are only 20 overs given to each team. Also comes under the classification of limited overs cricket.

[@littlemikey46]

Somebody missed the joke xD

[@christopherpellerito3809]

Something similar from American football: Barry Sanders played in 153 NFL games and amassed 15,269 rushing yards - just 31 yards short of averaging 100 per game for his career. He needed 72 rushing yards in his final game to finish with exactly 100 yards per game for his career, and got just 41.

[@budz2355]

gotta love those old records. baseball has a ton that will never be broken as well. nor because the player is all time amazing but because the game had changed

[@joatisgoat6005]

England lost the match by an innings to not give him another chance to bat!!!

[@MKD1101]

*That awkward moment when you get to know that sachin tendulkar never reached a half century at lord's but Ajit agarkar hit one century!*

[@MKD1101]

Chaitanya Jha Bhai aaraam se. Joke tha vo!

[@amaanmahmood3951]

Chaitanya Jha why are you getting so annoyed it was a joke

[@sauravsharma8038]

M.K.D. great joke

[@robindranandlal9493]

Har larkser hain bunda headses googih nunik

[@SelvaKumar-jq7or]

Its only timing and its not of capable.. Sachin hits 100's and 50's in many grounds, some grounds may be missed for him and pointing that missed ground is not Worthy...

[@dawidjagusiak]

Great story! I'm baffled why there is no proper feature movie about this amazing athlete?

[@neelparmar6690]

1:25 Jason Gillespe, a well known century scoring machine (but no one would ever forget his miraculous double century). Cheeky there Brady :P