Herbert Sutcliffe

Herbert Sutcliffe (born November 24, 1894, Summerbridge, Harrogate, Yorkshire, England; died January 22 1978, Cross Hills, Yorkshire, England) was arguably the greatest opening batsman in cricket history and undoubtedly one of the greatest players of any type the game has known. His Test batting average of 60.73 is the fourth highest of any player, and only Don Bradman's is more than a fraction higher. Uniquely, his average never dropped below 60 throughout his entire Test career — Javed Miandad is the only other man whose average never dropped below 50 in a career of at least 20 innings. Sutcliffe's first-class career batting average of 51.95 (according to Wisden, though Cricinfo claim 52.02) is bettered among batsmen who finished their careers with over 30,000 runs only by Hammond.

Rapid Decline

Though Sutcliffe hit his highest Test score of 194 at the SCG that winter and averaged 73 for the tour, an amazing decline set in the following year in a summer where conditions were much more favourable to batsmen. From an average of 74.13 and 3336 runs Sutcliffe declined to an average of 47.04 and 2211 runs — his lowest in a dry summer since 1921. Moreover, he was a complete failure in the Tests against the West Indies, scoring only 41 runs in two innings.

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Though a few times — at Kettering on a treacherous wicket, against Warwickshire with a superb double-hundred — we saw the incomparable Sutcliffe of previous years, in the main he was not the same batsman as before, and the cause of his decline remains unclear. Obvious explanations are the even more abrupt loss of form of his partner Percy Holmes, or the strain of so much cricket finally taking toll on Sutcliffe's physical strength. Whilst both seem plausible, neither seems sufficient explanation for previously so incomparable a player to become comparatively ineffective.

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