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 8 0 228 73 28.50 - 1 - Other matches 17 19 3 1040 228* 65.00 3 5 4 Tour 22 27 3 1268 228* 52.83 3 6 4 Career 173 244 39 13277 284 64.76 48 58 78 1934/35 Woodfull’s Testimonial Match was the last first-class game he played. He made it memorable by: scoring a century, top scoring for the match, sharing another century partnership with Ponsford (whose benefit it was also) and taking his only first-class wicket. Appropriately Woodfull’s team won. His wicket was gained when he had Les Fleetwood-Smith caught by Alan Kippax to finish off the second innings. According to the VCA, “The cricketing public responded most generously and enabled this association to present an amount of $2084 to each player.” The match attendance of 43,878 was boosted by a Saturday crowd of 22,637. This was in no small way due to the VCA cancelling all grade matches in an attempt to increase the crowd. Woodfull finished tenth in the VCA’s District batting averages, scoring 201 runs at 50.25. Woodfull almost made a complete break from cricket as he only played one more season of District Cricket before retiring. His District record with Carlton was excellent. Over 12 seasons he scored 3111 runs at 74.07. Only in 1935/36 did he ever play a full season for them but he was consistency plus whenever he appeared. In this, his last season, he finished ninth in the VCA’s District batting averages, scoring 477 runs at 59.62. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 174. W.M.Woodfull’s XI v V.Y.Richardson’s XI Melbourne, November 16, 17, 29, 20 (W.M.Woodfull’s XI won by seven wickets) c E.L.McCormick b L.E.Nagel 111 316 196 did not bat - 280-3 1.2 0 12 1 L.O’B Fleetwood-Smith c A.F.Kippax 399 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Other matches 1 1 0 111 111 111.00 1 - - Career 174 245 39 13388 284 64.99 49 58 78 Bowling O M R W BB Ave Other matches 1.2 0 12 1 1/12 12.00 Career 3.2 0 24 1 1/12 24.00 Postscript Woodfull never bowled for Victoria in an interstate match, only bowling in an Australian XI game, a benefit match and on the New Zealand tour of 1924/25. Bill Woodfull’s career batting average of 64.99 is the fourth highest ever recorded by any player scoring more than 10,000 runs in first-class cricket. The only higher averages have been recorded by Bradman, Ponsford and Merchant. His career batting average of 75.12 for Victoria is the second highest ever recorded for the State (after Ponsford). Woodfull’s first-class batting average always remained above the 64 run mark throughout his career. His record against all his major opponents (except for Test cricket) also remained over that mark. In Australia his average on the Test Match grounds was well over 60. In District cricket it was no different. Woodfull maintained his performances at about the 64 run mark in all levels of cricket in which he appeared. This may have been because he “had the advantage of batting on some fine pitches, prepared to last”. However as Fiddian points out, Woodfull also “had the disadvantage of playing on uncovered pitches which became a batsman’s nightmare after heavy rain”. 30