Len Hutton: 364 at The Oval and England’s first professional captain

In August 1938, a 22-year-old man batted for more than 13 hours at The Oval in London and set the highest individual score in Test cricket. He was Yorkshire’s Len Hutton. In 79 Tests he scored 6,971 runs at an average of 56.67, with 19 centuries¹. According to ESPNcricinfo, he is regarded as England’s finest and technically most correct batsman since the Second World War. He was also England’s first professional captain².

Early life and start in cricket

Leonard Hutton was born on 23 June 1916 at Fulneck, near Pudsey, in Yorkshire. His family was fond of cricket. At the age of 12 he joined Pudsey St Lawrence Club, which had produced players such as Herbert Sutcliffe. According to Wisden, the well-known Yorkshire player George Hirst watched him and said there was nothing left to teach him².

In England, domestic cricket is played between “county” teams, that is, teams representing different regions. In 1934, at just 17, he began his first-class career with Yorkshire and drew everyone’s attention with 196 against Worcestershire. In 1937 he scored 2,888 runs in the season².

His Test career began disappointingly. In the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, starting on 26 June 1937, he scored 0 and 1. But in the very next Test, at Manchester in July 1937, he made 100¹.

The Oval 1938: 364 runs

The Test series between England and Australia is called the “Ashes”. The last Test of the series began at The Oval on 20 August 1938. Opener Hutton spent 797 minutes at the crease, faced 847 balls and scored 364 with the help of 35 fours¹. It was only his sixth Test, and he broke the record of his own captain, Wally Hammond. According to ESPNcricinfo, at the age of 14 Hutton had watched Bradman score 334 at Leeds, and now he went past it. In this innings his partnership of 382 with Maurice Leyland became England’s record for any wicket, and England won the match by an innings and 579 runs². According to the ICC, his score remained the highest individual score in Test cricket for nearly 20 years³.

In 1939 he scored 196 at Lord’s and 165 not out at The Oval against the West Indies¹. Then the war stopped the game. According to Wisden, in 1941, during commando training, he badly broke his left arm in a gymnasium. Bone had to be grafted three times and the arm remained shorter than the other². Even so, he rebuilt his batting through hard work.

After the war: the pillar of England’s batting

In 1949 he scored 3,429 runs in the season, and in June alone he made 1,294 runs, a record for a month. On the 1948-49 tour of South Africa, his partnership of 359 with Cyril Washbrook at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, was then the Test record for the first wicket². On the same tour, also at Johannesburg, he played innings of 158 and 123¹.

Twice he carried his bat through a full innings, that is, he went in as opener and remained not out to the end. He made 202 not out against the West Indies at The Oval in August 1950 and 156 not out against Australia at Adelaide in February 1951¹. According to Wisden, his average in the 1950-51 series was 88.83. In 1951, against South Africa at The Oval, he became the first player in Test cricket to be given out “obstructing the field”².

Captaincy: the return of the Ashes

In the series against India in 1952, Hutton became England’s first professional captain. In that series he scored 150 at Lord’s and 104 at Manchester. In 1953, under his captaincy, England won back the Ashes from Australia. Wisden described his 145 at Lord’s as almost a perfect display of the art of batting¹².

On the 1953-54 tour of the West Indies, England lost the first two Tests, but Hutton scored 169 at Georgetown and 205 at Kingston to level the series 2-2. In 1954 he also played two Tests against Pakistan. In Australia in 1954-55, England retained the Ashes, and his 80 at Adelaide laid the foundation of a decisive win. In all, he led England in 23 Tests, winning 11, drawing 8 and losing only 4². His last Test began at Auckland on 25 March 1955, and he scored 53 in it¹.

Statistics

Source: ESPNcricinfo Statsguru¹. The figures are for his international career.

Legacy and memorial

In 1955, because of continuing poor health, Hutton declined the offer to captain England in the series against South Africa. He announced his retirement in early 1956, and in June that year he was knighted for services to cricket. In first-class cricket he scored 40,140 runs at an average of 55.51, with 129 centuries. He later served as an England selector in 1975 and 1976 and became president of Yorkshire².

He died on 6 September 1990 at a hospital in Kingston upon Thames. According to Wisden’s obituary, he was, with Jack Hobbs, one of England’s two most complete professional batsmen². In 2009 the ICC inducted him into its Cricket Hall of Fame³. From the 364 at The Oval to the defence of the Ashes in Australia, Len Hutton’s career is a complete story of patience, technique and leadership.