Are today’s Test cricket batsmen better than the greats of yesteryears? A comparative analysis

In sports, including Test cricket, athletes from years past serve as performance role models and set benchmarks for subsequent generations of players. Sports fans often wonder: are players today good greats the past? Alternatively, how do today’s compare with yesteryears? This paper attempts to answer that question match cricket. We applied data mining batting eighty, now retired, Cricket Greats (TCG hereon) eight major cricket countries. Batting attributes included average, strike rate, numbers fifties hundreds scored, among others. Using k-Means cluster analysis, TCG records were classified into three clusters which was our Training Model. Two populated by established batsmen third bowlers, all-rounders significant bowling, some batsmen. The Learning Model predict classifications thirty two Active (TCA Statistical tests performed, wise, highlight similarities dis-similarities between TCA Results show several active players, while still mid-career, have already achieved at par best TCG.