5 highlights from Walter Hammond's career

Beefed up bats, covered wickets, specialist coaches, dietary and fitness consultants, flat decks to stash the broadcasters' pockets with the jingles of gold, this is an era where Steve Smith averages 61.38 after 64 Test matches and is labeled "Bradmanesque".

Thinly carved planks of willow, sticky wickets where teams had to resort to as far as inverting the batting orders, no logistical comforts and even adjusted for inflation, there is no way that a top-notch cricketer would earn $272,000 in the 1930s compared to Smith's neat $4 million in 2018. That is when Walter Reginald Hammond averaged 58.45 with the bat over 85 Test matches.

Sandwiched between the legendary figures of Sir Jack Hobbs and Sir Donald Bradman, "Wally" Hammond made a name for himself by being their cricketing equivalent, in the intermediate phase of the chronological timeline. Not only a statistical enigma, he was a great ambassador of a game, in an age of no televising of cricket, he was the kind who drew spectators to the grounds.

Wisden's Almanack captures his genius as follows:

The instant he walked out of a pavilion, white-spotted blue handkerchief showing from his right pocket, bat tucked underarm, cap at a hint of an angle, he was identifiable as a thoroughbred. Strongly-built, square-shouldered, deep-chested, with impressively powerful forearms, it seemed as if his bat weighed nothing in those purposeful hands.

On his birthday, we look at the major highlights from an illustrious career that spanned well over three decades, and had it not been for the intervening years of the World War, he would have added more accolades to an already remarkable string of achievements.

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#5 Most prolific Test scorer for the longest duration

In the opening Test of New Zealand's tour of England in 1937 at Lord's, Hammond scored a pensive hundred on the first day of the match to set the match up for inevitable English domination. With Joe Hardstaff junior, he put up a dominating 245 for the third wicket, and on the second day of the match rewrote the record books by overtaking England's greatest of all time, Jack Hobbs as the highest aggregate scorer in Test cricket.

On June 27, 1937, he surpassed Hobbs' 5,410 runs and then was not usurped from the summit for 33 years and 151 days. The duration is a record for the greatest time period that particular record has been held for. England's Colin Cowdrey crossed his total of 7,249 but only after Hammond's mark had been imprinted on history for well over three decades.

To put that in perspective, Sachin Tendulkar has held that record for just 9 years and 244 days, and it already feels like a lifetime.

#4 1928-29 Ashes tour of Australia

In his first ever Ashes representation, Hammond made an everlasting impression on the land down under. Moving away from the grey skies and green-tinged pitches of England, Hammond as thrilled he was to be playing under the sun on hard bouncy tracks of Australia, he knew that he would have to adapt to these conditions. Boy, did he do that well!

He discarded the fluency and charisma for a more cautious brand of batting that was sure to reel in bigger scores, and how effective did that maneuver turn out to be. Hammond started his run-scoring spree with a seven-hour double century in the second Test at Adelaide and in staggering fashion, repeated the heroics in the third Test. The fourth Test was slightly less productive, albeit by his standards as he managed pedestrian scores of 119* and 1117. His series tally of 905 runs still stands a clear way ahead of anyone to have played the game, only for the Don's record of 974.

It was a perfect example of acclimatization and a testament to the reasons behind his success in the sport over such a long period of time. He restricted his batting to scoring only with a straight vertical bat, with the majority of his runs coming in the "V".

#3 All-round talents

One of the best batsman to have graced the sport? Check.

Slip-fielding supremo? Check.

The only remaining facade of cricket, that too he excelled at. As if 167 first-class centuries did not make him feel content with himself, Hammond tallied some few 732 odd wickets to go along. Interestingly, comparisons can be drawn between him and his modern-era equivalent, Sachin Tendulkar when seeing the bowling sides of them.

Both bowled medium-pace and off-spin depending on whatever the conditions and batsmen's vulnerabilities deemed effective and both committed the sin of never taking their gift for bowling too seriously.

Hammond's best bowling analysis of nine wickets for a miserly 23 runs is one of the best returns in first-class cricket for a cricketer averaging as high as him with the bat. He also has two Test five-wicket hauls, including one on debut, to his name that too playing in the era of Harold Larwood and Douglas Jardine.

#2 Smashing monthly records

After a brief window of being banned by his county Gloucestershire due to eligibility issues caused by his birth in Kent, he returned to the stage in the cricketing summer of 1927. He was a rejuvenated cricketer, spurred by the hard work he had gone through during the suspension, and made an immediate impact.

He became only the second cricketer, the first being WG Grace, to score 1,000 runs in the month of May, the month traditionally the first of the cricket season in England. This marvelous run included a notable performance against Lancashire, regarded by the spectators and critics as one of the greatest innings ever played owing to the chanceless series of strokeplay and his trademark fluency. He scored 99 in the first innings and 187 in the second to ensure the match was drawn. At one point in the game, he mastered the hook stroke and launched an array of shots to hit five boundaries in a row.

Coming close to scoring 1,000 runs in June as well, he finished the season with 2,969 runs, including 12 centuries. His average of 69.04 was the fifth highest in all first-class cricket and an international beckoning lay awaited.

#1 Tonning up big

After Bill Bowes took six wickets on the first day of England's second Test against New Zealand at Auckland, the Test seemed to be headed for an early finish with England being expected to be rolled over for a score in proximity to New Zealand's 158 all out in just two sessions.

Hammond, however, the man who rallied against presupposition, walked out to bat at number three, the score 56 and the batsmen tentative all day long. He not only scored when everyone struggled but did it in a way that was absolutely unheard of in his day and age. 5 hours, 34 fours and 10 soaring hits to go all the way over the ropes (a record for sixes back then) later, Hammond had an unbeaten 336 against his name.

And before you call it a belter of a pitch or an undermined bowling effort, note that the 21 times other batsmen batted in that Test to amount to 353 runs. He took just 47 minutes to leapfrog from 200 to 300, and in the process became the highest individual scorer in Test history at the time.