Famous Cricketers No 57 - W. M. Woodfull

SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Sheffield Shield 5 8 1 269 83 38.42 - 3 1 Other matches 5 6 - 549 129 91.50 4 - 3 Season 10 14 1 818 129 62.92 4 3 4 Career 151 217 36 12009 284 66.34 45 52 74 Bowling O M R W BB Ave Other matches 1 0 10 0 - - Career 2 0 12 0 - - 1934 – Australians in England Appointed captain of the Australian touring team, Woodfull achieved the unique feat of bringing home the Ashes again. The main protagonists from the infamous 1932/33 tour (Jardine, Larwood and Voce) were not selected for England for a variety of reasons. An ‘incident’ arose in the Nottinghamshire game when Voce used Bodyline against the Australians. Cooler heads prevailed and Voce did not bowl again in the match. Pre-tour, the Australian team were unsure of the type of welcome they would receive in England. Woodfull’s firm control of his team and his tact ensured that the tour proceeded smoothly. Woodfull “captained the team with great judgement and ability”. Wisden said that “Woodfull made three hundreds during the tour but it would be idle to pretend that he was anything like the run-getter of former days or so difficult to dismiss. Still, in leading the side to victory in the rubber he ended on a top note and will always be able to look back upon his performances with the greatest personal satisfaction. Cricket both in Australia and England will be the poorer for his loss for he always endeavoured to play the game with the strictest regard to its great traditions.” They also thought that Woodfull “captained the team with great judgement and ability”. The implication from these comments would be that Woodfull had a poor tour. This was not so as he scored 1268 runs at 52.83, figures which are not that greatly different from his previous tours. This time however he was well down compared to the top three players (Ponsford, Bradman and McCabe) and his performances suffered in comparison. Several times he had bad runs and for the first time he did not open his tour with a century. It took eight games before he recorded a century and even then it was a second innings effort when the result was irrelevant. From that point on, his efforts improved dramatically as he averaged 70 for the rest of the tour. He scored consecutive centuries near the end but struggled in the Tests. He scored 172* against Lancashire, adding 281 for the second wicket with Brown. His 131 against Gloucestershire was “an attractive exhibition” and he added 183 with Ponsford for the first wicket. His 228* against Glamorgan took about five and a half hours. His Test performances were the worst of his career and were less than what he had scored against Bodyline. Woodfull’s last three dismissals in Test cricket were all ‘bowled Bowes’. For someone who had acquired the reputation of being ‘unbowlable’ this possibly best reflected how the times had changed for Woodfull. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 152. Australians v Worcestershire, Worcester, May 2, 3 (Australians won by an innings and 297 runs) c R.T.D.Perks b S.H.Martin 48 504 112 95 153. Australians v Cambridge University, Fenner’s, May 9, 10, 11 (Australians won by an innings and 163 runs) c H.R.Cox b J.G.W.Davies 21 481-5d 158 160 154. Australians v M.C.C., Lord’s, May 12, 14, 15 (Match drawn) c J.C.White b F.R.Brown 20 559-6d 362 182-8 1 155. Australians v Essex, Chelmsford, May 16, 17, 18 (Australians won by an innings and 93 runs) b K.Farnes 55 438 220 125 28