Famous Cricketers No 65 - Len Hutton

126. ENGLAND v AUSTRALIA, Kennington Oval, August 20, 22.23, 24 (England won by an innings and 579 runs) c A.L.Hassett b W.J.O’Reilly 364 903-7d 201 123 127. Yorkshire v Kent, Dover, August 27, 29 (Yorkshire won by an innings and 49 runs) lbw b L.J.Todd 22 326 168 109 128. Yorkshire v MCC, Scarborough, September 3, 5, 6 (Match drawn) b H.M.Garland-Wells 49 221 7 1 20 0 345 not out 106 222-2 - - - - 132-4d 129. Players v Gentlemen, Scarborough, September 7, 8, 9 (Players won by five wickets) lbw b K.Farnes 46 429 4 0 11 0 325 c and b K.Farnes 4 133-5 3 0 27 1 N.W.D.Yardley st A.Wood 233-6d 130. H.D.G.Leveson Gower’s X1 v Australians, Scarborough, September 10, 12, 13 (H.D.G.Leveson Gower’s XI won by ten wickets) c B.A.Barnett b W.J.O’Reilly 73 363-8d 306 not out 9 46-0 102 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Test matches 3 4 0 473 364 118.25 2 - 1 Players 2 4 0 108 52 27.00 - 1 - Championship 13 17 3 631 107 45.07 1 3 8 Other Yorkshire matches 5 9 2 540 180 77.14 3 - 3 Other matches 2 3 1 122 73 61.00 - 1 2 Season 25 37 6 1874 364 60.45 6 5 14 Career 130 200 26 7607 364 43.15 19 32 89 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Championship 121.4 31 275 12 5-45 22.91 1 - Players 7 0 38 1 1-27 38.00 - - Other Yorkshire matches 92.3 19 251 7 4-38 35.85 - - Other matches 6 1 12 0 - - - - Season (6-ball) 227.1 51 576 20 5-45 28.80 1 - Career (6-ball) 847.5 173 2583 83 6-76 31.12 2 1 1938/39 – MCC in South Africa Len Hutton judged this to be the most enjoyable tour of his career if one goes by the letters he wrote to Hedley Verity’s son, Douglas, many years after he had retired from the game. His arrival as the holder of the world-record Test score had aroused great interest in the Union and he rewarded the South African public with some scintillating batsmanship. There had been some criticism in his earlier years – remember he was still only 22! – of too much caution and lack of enterprise, but a more aggressive approach generally in 1938 was continued on the tour. He was described as “very aggressive” in his 149 v Griqualand West in his opening stand of 262 with Bill Edrich, one of two opening stands of over 200 they shared, whilst against Eastern Province he put on 168 in less than an hour and a half with county colleague Paul Gibb. He reached his own century in less than 80 minutes. In its report on the tour Wisden described him as always looking “the most accomplished player of the party,” high praise indeed with no less a player than Walter Hammond as his captain. A South African journal described him as “one of the most delightful stroke players yet to have visited South Africa … This 22-year old player from a county where they usually breed a batsman of a dour kind … was ever in quest of quick runs.” The article then went on to wonder what could be done to help bowlers if records were not to go by the board, the parallels with Bradman in the public eye becoming more and more apparent. 20