Wally Hammond's 336* at Auckland — World Test Record, 1933

England had toured Australia for the Bodyline series and continued to New Zealand for two Tests under Bob Wyatt. Bodyline veterans were absent — Larwood and Voce had stayed behind — and the side was in a relaxed, scoring mood. Hammond had warmed up with 227 at Christchurch.

England won the toss and batted on a true Eden Park surface. The opening stand fell early; Hammond walked in at 56 for 1.

England had wrapped up the first Test at Christchurch by an innings, with Hammond making 227. At Eden Park, on a flat pitch and against a New Zealand attack that had only had Test status since 1929-30, he produced what Wisden later called 'the most explosive triple-century the game had then seen.' Coming in at first drop, he reached 100 in 134 minutes, 200 in 241 minutes and 300 in 287 minutes. The 336 itself came in 318 minutes — a strike rate that would still look brisk in T20.

The innings included 34 fours and 10 sixes — three of the sixes hit off consecutive balls from Jack Newman. Until that day the record for sixes in a Test innings was four. Hammond's 336 was made out of a team total of 548 for 7 declared. England did not enforce the follow-on; bad weather then washed out the rest of the match for a draw.

The innings broke Bradman's 334 (Headingley 1930) as the highest score in Test cricket. It would stand five years until Len Hutton's 364 at The Oval in 1938. Crucially, Hammond batted only twice in the entire two-match series — 227 and 336* — and finished with a series average of 563, which is still the record series average for any batter in Test history.

For New Zealand the match was a chastening reminder that Test status did not guarantee competitive Tests. They had granted England a generous schedule on slow pitches and got Hammond at the height of his powers. For Hammond, the innings cemented him as the senior batter in world cricket alongside Bradman, a position he would hold until 1938.

“The most explosive triple-century the game had then seen.”

“He hit ten sixes; the previous Test record was four.”

Hammond's record stood until 1938, when Hutton made 364 at The Oval. New Zealand cricket spent the 1930s improving slowly; their first Test win would not come until 1956. Hammond went on to score 22 Test centuries, captained England from 1938 to 1947, and finished with a Test average of 58.45.

The 336 is, in some ways, the only Hammond Test innings that puts him statistically above Bradman in any single category — at the moment of declaration, Hammond held the world record. Bradman would not pass it until 1948 (with 334 the highest he ever scored in a Test).