#(also re: pitching/bowling: i didn't count that b/c the measurements for bradman v gretz were offensive only)

[sergeifyodorov]

Bitter Brit here, cricket and baseball are not comparable at all.

The batting style would have to be unlearned and relearned. Baseball seems to be the same swinging motion every time, cricket has a much greater variety of ways to hit the ball (see cut, ramp, pull, hook, drive - each in forwards, defensive or reverse).

Same with bowling which is totally different to pitching. Cricket bowlers are not allowed to throw the ball, it’s a very specific action.

For batters, the bounce of the cricket ball is inconsistent & varies at every venue. Cloud cover and sun placement apparently affects the ball movement. (am not joking, cricket is bizarre).

There’s also the strategy. Playing for a draw was/is a valid target. Especially in Bradmans era. The kind of cricket he played lasted 5 days per match and for a lot of that he would have been fielding. So in addition to being good at his thing, he had to be a decent fielder (not an all rounder tho that’s different). Fielders don’t wear gloves either. Only helmets if they stand at the sillies.

Long story short, Gretzky might be able to pick up cricket before bradman learned to skate, but baseball experience is unlikely to help. (And it would take far longer to understand cricket rules than hockey rules).

FASCINATING

-> going to call it a draw in the "who would be better at the other's sport" game then. like you could philosophize about the amount of exercise/training a canadian from the 80s and an australian from the 30s are getting but im not that deep in sports medicine discourse for that to be happening

-> the only rebuttal i'll make to this because you obviously know what you're talking about and i do not think about cricket at all is that skating is Difficult As All Fuck; learning to so much as stop effectively can take days. that being said unlearning a baseball swing to have to re-learn 30 different cricket swings also sounds like mental and physical torture so fair enough

-> table tennis agenda STILL ON THOUGH!