Famous Cricketers No 57 - W. M. Woodfull

SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Test matches 5 6 - 204 83 34.00 - 2 1 Sheffield Shield 2 3 1 207 177 103.50 1 - 1 Other matches 2 3 1 66 53 33.00 - 1 - Season 9 12 2 477 177 47.70 1 3 2 Career 121 169 32 9740 284 71.09 38 40 68 1931/32 Woodfull bounced back to his old form against the touring South Africans. His Test average of 70.16 for 421 runs was the best he ever recorded. Woodfull also captained Australia to a 5-0 result, the only time this has been achieved against South Africa. Apart from the last Test, played on a rain-affected pitch, Woodfull scored runs in every game against the South African attack. In the First Test at Brisbane, he scored 76, adding 163 for the second wicket with Bradman in two hours. This was the first Test ever staged at the Woolloongabba (‘Gabba’) ground. The Second Test saw Woodfull add 137 for the second wicket with Rigg. A first innings failure in the Third Test at Melbourne was redeemed by a second innings 161 during which he added an Australian record 274 for the second wicket with Bradman. Batting for exactly five hours, Woodfull hit his highest score in Tests. For an innings of such size, his five boundaries highlighted how much he worked the ball around for ones and twos. It was a “characteristically solid display”. Bradman and Woodfull combined again in the Fourth Test, adding 174 in two hours for the second wicket. Top scoring in the first innings of the second tour match for Victoria, Woodfull and Ponsford “ran up an unbroken stand of 158 in 83 minutes” in the second innings. The Fifth Test was a remarkable game. Four batsmen were dismissed first ball, including Woodfull to the opening delivery of the Australian innings. A wet pitch turned ‘sticky’ when the sun came out, making it extremely difficult to bat on. No player reached 45 in the match as 29 wickets fell for 234 runs. The game was over in less than six hours playing time. South Africa were dismissed for 36 and 45 with only one player reaching double figures in each innings. Woodfull and two of his team mates missed the last Shield match. They were suffering from influenza. The VCA commented that Woodfull “was consistent throughout the tour and was always a hard man to dismiss”. He played only two Shield matches but showed “brilliant batting” against New South Wales when he scored 147. Interestingly, this was to be his last Shield century. Woodfull passed 10,000 runs in first-class cricket during the Second Test. When he reached this target he had the highest batting average ever recorded in first-class cricket (70.65). This put him slightly ahead of the next two batsmen (Ponsford and Kippax). The nearest English player was Sutcliffe who averaged only 53. Australian Cricketer magazine opined that Woodfull could have made far more runs. This was because “he has invariably begun to hit after reaching his century and as he can not hit and nearly always loses his wicket, he is not amongst the marathon scorers as he has usually chosen to give his wicket away when he has reached a fair score”. Woodfull finished ninth in the VCA’s District batting averages, scoring 213 runs at 53.25. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 122. Victoria v South Africans, Melbourne, November 6, 7, 9 (Victoria won by 87 runs) st H.B.Cameron b Q.McMillan 121 284 235 c C.L.Vincent b N.A.Quinn 0 91 53 123. Victoria v South Australia, Adelaide, November 13, 14, 16, 17 (South Australia won by 21 runs) c T.A.Carlton b C.V.Grimmett 32 315 317 c M.G.Waite b T.A.Carlton 9 151 170 124. AUSTRALIA v SOUTH AFRICA, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, November 27, 28, (30), December (1), 2, 3 (Australia won by an innings and 163 runs) lbw b C.L.Vincent 76 450 170 117 24