Bill Ponsford's last Test innings was 266 at The Oval in August 1934, in a 451-run second-wicket stand with Don Bradman that won the Ashes for Australia and broke a world record that stood for 57 years. He walked off, raised his bat to a packed Oval, and retired from international cricket at 34.
Ponsford had been overshadowed by Bradman through the early 1930s but had also been at the receiving end of Bodyline; he was hit on the back, ribs and head across 1932-33. He came back into the side for 1934 and was, alongside Bradman, the dominant batter of the series.
Australia 1-1 after Headingley. Bradman won the toss at the Oval and chose to bat. Bill Brown out for 7. Ponsford joined Bradman at 21.
Australia, 1-1 after Headingley, came to The Oval needing the win. Bradman won the toss and batted. Bill Brown fell early; Ponsford and Bradman came together at 1 for 21 and stayed there for nearly seven and a half hours. They added 451 for the second wicket — a world Test record that would stand until Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara's 624 (third wicket) in 2006. Their second-wicket record stood until 1991, broken only by Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad's 451 against India.
Ponsford was caught Ames bowled Allen for 266 — a square-cut top-edge that flew to the keeper after seven and a quarter hours of accumulation. Bradman 244, Ponsford 266; Australia eventually 701, the highest Test total of the series. England 321 and 145; Australia won by 562 runs and the Ashes were retained.
Ponsford, 34, who had also retired briefly during the Bodyline series after taking blows on the body, announced his retirement at the close of the tour. He left as the only batter to have scored two first-class quadruple centuries (437 and 429), with a Test average of 48.22 and a series in which he had averaged 94.83. His partnership with Bradman remains, in Australian cricket lore, the pre-war template for a great pair.
Brown out 7; Ponsford in.
100-partnership in 92 minutes.
200 partnership; Bradman past 100.
Ponsford 100 in three hours.
451-run second-wicket stand — world Test record.
Bradman out 244; Ponsford out 266.
Australia 701; England 321 and 145; Australia win by 562.
Ashes retained; Ponsford retires.
18 Aug 1934
Bradman wins toss; Australia bat at Oval.
18-20 Aug
Ponsford-Bradman 451 stand.
20 Aug
Ponsford out 266; Bradman 244.
22 Aug
Australia win by 562; Ashes retained.
Sept 1934
Ponsford retires from cricket.
“He had as much patience as Bradman and even straighter strokes.”
“I had said all I needed to say with the bat.”
Ponsford retired from international and first-class cricket at the end of the 1934 tour, aged 34. He worked for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria for the next 41 years. Bradman remained in Test cricket for another 14 years; the two never batted together at Test level again.
A 266 to retire on, a 451-run stand with Bradman that won an Ashes, and the closing line of one of pre-war cricket's most underrated batting careers.
Ponsford's record-breaking 451 stand stood as the Test second-wicket record until 1991. His career first-class average of 65.18 puts him in the top five of all time. The Ponsford Stand at the MCG is named for him; the Allan Border Medal's Bill Ponsford Trophy honours the leading first-class run-scorer each Australian summer.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.