Wally Hammond, one of the greatest batsmen on the off-side, but a flawed one as well

Almost throughout his Test career, Don Bradman’s great English rival was Walter or Wally Hammond. Former England captain Bob Wyatt wrote in one of his letters to this author:

“Hammond I put down as the greatest player on the off-side.”

In Bradman’s debut series in 1928-29, Hammond struck a record 905 runs in the five Tests at an average of 113.12.

When the two teams met again in 1930, Bradman not only logged 974 runs, a mark never to be beaten, averaging 139.14, but also notched up the highest Test score, at the time, of 334 at Leeds.

Hammond then took away the Test record with his unbeaten 336 against New Zealand at Auckland, just after the Bodyline series in 1932-33. New Zealand were a very weak side then and many did not give much credence to this record, rating only the Ashes clashes as the real contests.

So when Len Hutton took the record at The Oval in 1938, some were still under the impression that he had surpassed Bradman’s Test best. This illusion came into sharper focus as Bradman was the first to congratulate Hutton on achieving the feat.

Wally Hammond had the highest Test score as well as aggregate

Nevertheless, Wally Hammond did have, for a while, the double of the highest individual score in Tests as well as most runs in the longest format with 7,249 runs at an average of 58.45.

This was until Colin Cowdrey and Gary Sobers set new marks in the 1970s. This feat of highest Test score as well as aggregate was later emulated by Sobers and Brian Lara.

Hammond, though, could never emulate Bradman’s prolific run-getting - nobody could - a fact he was quick to acknowledge. Hammond has often been described as a majestic batsman. He would, however, be tied down by the great leg-spinners Bill O’Reilly and Clarrie Grimmett, particularly on the leg-stump.

EW Swanton also observed his difficulty against fast bowling, pointing to his lacklustre show against the West Indies. In fact, Manny Martindale, Learie Constantine’s fearsome new-ball partner, split open his chin at Old Trafford in 1933.

Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas was similarly brilliant on the off-side in another era, one of the finest drivers off the back foot and very stylish. He also had his problems against genuine fast bowling, but revelled in English conditions.

Though big in build, Wally Hammond was a brilliant slip fielder. What can never be disputed is the fact that Hammond was England’s mainstay with the bat for the best part of a decade.

(Excerpt from Indra Vikram Singh’s book ‘Don’s Century’).