Famous Cricketers No 65 - Len Hutton

he scored 138 and 62*, thus giving the side an enormous fillip. “He dwarfed everything else in this match” and “drove splendidly.” He was able to play in the final two Tests of the series, scoring half-centuries in each innings in the game at Kingston where it is reported that the crowd was treated to a feast of superb strokes. His 128 at Melbourne Park, Kingston, against Jamaica also showed him at his best with off-drives and late-cuts being particularly prominent. In the final tour averages he finished almost twenty runs higher than the next man. His participation in the second half of the tour had given a great boost in morale to the side and had helped to give some justification to the side being called “England”! Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 251. MCC v British Guiana, Georgetown, February 19, 20, 21,23 (Match drawn) c I.Jordan b B.M.Gaskin 138 332 3 1 12 0 296 not out 62 191-6d 2 0 8 0 76-1 1 252. ENGLAND v WEST INDIES, Georgetown, March 3, 4, 5, 6 (West Indies won by seven wickets) c E.A.V.Williams b J.D.C.Goddard 31 111 297-8d b W.Ferguson 24 263 78-3 253. MCC v Jamaica, Sabina Park, Kingston, March 15, 16, 17, 18 (Match drawn) lbw b I.Iffla 19 278 244-7d c F.M.M.Worrell b A.R.Bonitto 37 88-3 254. MCC v Jamaica, Melbourne Park, Kingston, March 20, 22, 23, 24 (Match drawn) c A.E.McKenzie b L.G.Gooden 128 313 258 1 c I.Iffla b A.J.Powe 23 221-7d 178-3 1 255. ENGLAND v WEST INDIES, Sabina Park, Kingston, March 27, 29, 30, 31, April 1 (West Indies won by ten wickets) b H.H.H.Johnson 56 227 490 3 c sub b J.D.C.Goddard 60 336 76-0 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Test matches 2 4 0 171 60 42.75 - 2 3 Other matches 3 6 1 407 138 81.40 2 1 3 Tour 5 10 1 578 138 64.22 2 3 6 Career 255 400 47 18422 364 52.18 58 73 185 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Other matches (6-ball) 5 1 20 0 - - - - Career (6-ball) 1054.5 203 } 4333 157 6-76 27.59 4 1 (8-ball) 262.7 40 1948 This season will surely be forever remembered as the one in which the unthinkable took place – Len Hutton was dropped from the England team for the third Test at Old Trafford! It is hard to imagine that the reason was form as he had scored centuries in four consecutive county championship matches leading up to the first Test during which spell he had scored 52 and 64 at Lord’s for MCC v The Australians, by far the highest score in each innings. He had scored 74 in the first Test at Trent Bridge and his aggregate of runs after two Tests, whilst only 110, was twenty more than the combined aggregate of Edrich and Washbrook. Whatever the reasons may have been, there was certainly a great outcry and the majority of cricketing folk found it baffling. He had obviously been the prime target of the Australian pace attack as they realised how much England’s fortunes rested upon him together with Denis Compton. His replacement was George Emmett of Gloucestershire, an excellent stroke-player at county level, but he found Lindwall a very different proposition in this, his only Test. 35