Don Bradman
Brian Lara
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Brian Lara leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Don Bradman at #1 and Brian Lara at #8.
Head-to-head FAQ
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The case for Don Bradman
Donald Bradman's career Test average of 99.94 is the most celebrated number in cricket, and arguably in all of sport. In 52 Tests he scored 6,996 runs with 29 centuries, twelve of them double hundreds, and once made 334 against England at Leeds. He needed only four runs in his final innings, at The Oval in 1948, to average 100, but was bowled for a duck by Eric Hollies, a full stop of almost mythic cruelty. Bradman scored his runs on uncovered pitches, against Bodyline devised specifically to stop him, and averaged nearly double the next-best batsman of any era. He also captained Australia's unbeaten 1948 Invincibles. No batsman since has come close to his standard; the gap between Bradman and the field is the widest in the sport's statistical history, which is why he sits first on almost every credible list.
The case for Brian Lara
Brian Lara was cricket's supreme record-breaker and its most thrilling big-innings player. The left-hander holds the highest individual Test score, 400 not out against England in 2004, and the highest first-class score, 501 not out for Warwickshire in 1994, the only man to reclaim the Test record after losing it. He scored 11,953 Test runs with 34 centuries, nine of them over 150, and averaged over 52 while often carrying a weak West Indies batting order. His high backlift and explosive strokeplay made even world-class attacks look ordinary; his 153 not out to beat Australia at Bridgetown in 1999 is regarded as one of the greatest match-winning innings ever played. Lara scored with a speed and audacity that set him apart from his contemporaries, and on his day no batsman was more capable of dominating a Test single-handedly.