page_title: Wally Hammond
section_title: Bodyline tour
hierarchical_section_title: Wally Hammond / Test cricketer / Bodyline tour
caption_attribution_description: English: Wally Hammond batting during his innings of 75 not out, Australia v England, 5th Test, Sydney, February 28, 1933
context_page_description: Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English first-class cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England. Primarily a middle-order batsman, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him in his obituary as one of the four best batsmen in the history of cricket. He was considered to be the best English batsman of the 1930s by commentators and those with whom he played; they also said that he was one of the best slip fielders ever. Hammond was an effective fast-medium pace bowler and contemporaries believed that if he had been less reluctant to bowl, he could have achieved even more with the ball than he did.
  In a Test career spanning 85 matches, he scored 7,249 runs and took 83 wickets. Hammond captained England in 20 of those Tests, winning four, losing three, and drawing 13. His career aggregate of runs was the highest in Test cricket until surpassed by Colin Cowdrey in 1970; his total of 22 Test centuries remained an English record until Alastair Cook surpassed it in December 2012.
context_section_description: Hammond was selected for the M.C.C. tour of Australia in 1932–33. Known as the Bodyline series, it became notorious for the controversial English tactic of bowling short on the line of leg stump, making the ball rise towards the batsman's body to create deflections that could be caught by leg-side fielders. Hammond, one of the first players selected, was part of the selection committee on tour, and the M.C.C. captain, Douglas Jardine, may have discussed tactics with him on the outward journey. Hammond disapproved of Bodyline bowling, believing it to be dangerous, although he understood some of the reasons for its use. He kept his feelings hidden during the tour, preferring to go along with his captain and the rest of the team. It was not until 1946 that he openly voiced his opinion.
  Wisden described Hammond's campaign as successful, although he failed to reach the heights of his previous tour. In the Tests, Hammond scored 440 runs (average 55.00) and took nine wickets (average 32.33), while scoring 948 runs (average 55.76) and taking 20 wickets (average 28.90) in all first-class matches. Although Wisden said that Hammond accomplished little with the ball, team manager Plum Warner praised his bowling, claiming that during the first Test it was comparable to that of revered former England bowler Sydney Barnes. His best performance was in a match against New South Wales, where he took six for 43, including the wicket of Bradman. In an early game on tour against Victoria, Hammond was instructed by Jardine to attack the bowling of Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, who was on the verge of making his Test debut. Hammond scored 203, freely punishing Fleetwood-Smith's bowling and in effect delaying his Test debut for several years.
  In England's victory in the first Test, Hammond scored 112, playing powerfully through the off side. He took two wickets in two balls in the second Australian innings, making the ball move around. In the second Test, he bowled spin, as England left out Hedley Verity, their specialist spinner; his bowling impressed Jardine and the Wisden correspondent. His bowling against Bradman, who scored an unbeaten century, produced a personal duel that struck observers as particularly tense. Hammond took three for 23 in the second innings but achieved little with the bat as England lost the match. In the third Test, he appeared uncomfortable facing Tim Wall's fast, short bowling, and was heard to say, "If that's what the bloody game's coming to, I've had enough of it!" He scored 85 in the second innings before being bowled by a full toss from Bradman, to his annoyance. Hammond did not pass 20 runs in England's Ashes-securing victory in the fourth Test, attracting criticism from Wisden and others for overcautious batting. He returned to form in the final Test at Sydney, a ground on which he was often successful, scoring 101 and 75 not out. Wisden praised his style and brilliant play, and he ended the match with a six, securing England's third successive victory and a 4–1 series win.
  A short tour of New Zealand followed; Hammond scored 621 runs in three first-class innings. In the first Test, he scored 227, and in the second and final Test, he broke the world record for a Test innings on 1 April by scoring 336 not out. His record innings began cautiously, but against a weak bowling side, he increased his scoring rate after making his century and again after reaching 200. As he passed Bradman's record of 334, he shouted "Yes!" He hit ten sixes, then a Test record, including three from consecutive balls. However, the weakness of the bowling compared to that faced by Bradman and the importance of Ashes matches meant that Hammond's record was not as prestigious as the Australian's. When Len Hutton broke the record in 1938, he considered Bradman's 334 the score to beat.
caption: Hammond batting during his innings of 75 not out, Australia v England, 5th Test, 28 February 1933
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