What was Don Bradman's Test batting average?

Don Bradman’s Test batting average was 99.94. It remains the highest career batting average in Test cricket and is one of the most remarkable records in any major sport.

Bradman played 52 Tests for Australia between 1928 and 1948, scoring 6,996 runs in 80 innings. His average is calculated from runs divided by dismissals, so his final figure fell just short of the symbolic 100.00 mark. He was dismissed in his last Test for a duck, needing only four runs to finish with a perfect average of 100.

The number is often confused with Bradman’s first-class average, which was also extraordinarily high but not identical. His Test record included 29 centuries, a figure that stood as the world record for decades. Bradman’s dominance was especially notable because he played through the uncovered-pitch era, when rain and uneven surfaces made batting considerably more difficult.

Bradman’s 99.94 is not a percentage; it is a runs-per-dismissal average. That distinction explains why the figure is written with two decimal places and why 100.00 would be incorrect.