In New Zealand's first home Test series in 1929-30, the 26-year-old Stewie Dempster scored 136 in the second Test at Wellington, partnered by Jackie Mills's 117 in an opening stand of 276 — the highest first-wicket partnership made in a Test by any country to that point and the founding statement of New Zealand Test batting.
New Zealand's batting had been the weaker department through the 1920s; the bowling, led by Bill Merritt and Ted Badcock, was widely judged Test-class. Dempster, a left-handed opener, was the Wellington club star whose technique was thought best-suited to Test cricket.
Stewie Dempster of Wellington had been the leading batsman in New Zealand domestic cricket through the late 1920s. He was 26 by the time New Zealand played its first Test in January 1930. His debut at Christchurch was modest (a duck in the first innings); the Wellington Test that followed produced his founding innings.
New Zealand were 0-1 in the series after the Christchurch defeat. At Wellington's Basin Reserve, in the second Test of late January 1930, Dempster opened with the 25-year-old Jackie Mills. They added 276 for the first wicket — Dempster 136 in 322 minutes, Mills 117. The partnership was at the time the highest first-wicket Test partnership made by any team. New Zealand made 440 in their first innings; the match was drawn.
Dempster played 10 Tests for New Zealand between 1930 and 1933, scoring 723 runs at 65.72 — a Test average bettered only by Bradman, Hobbs, Sutcliffe and a handful of others by 1933. He moved to England in 1936 to play for Sir Julien Cahn's XI and Leicestershire, finishing his career with a first-class average over 44 and 35 hundreds.
Jan 1930: Dempster duck on Test debut at Christchurch
24 Jan 1930: Wellington Test begins
Dempster and Mills open; partnership of 276
Dempster 136; Mills 117
Match drawn after NZ 440 in first innings
10 Jan 1930
Dempster Test debut at Christchurch — duck
24 Jan 1930
Wellington Test begins
27 Jan 1930
Dempster 136; partnership of 276 with Mills
“If we had had a regular Test calendar Dempster would have been one of the great batsmen of the period. He simply did not get the matches.”
Wellington January 1930 was the founding statement of New Zealand Test batting and the innings that established Stewie Dempster as one of the highest-averaging Test batsmen of the inter-war period.
Dempster is regarded as New Zealand's first great Test batsman and the founder of the country's batting tradition. His 65.72 Test average remained the New Zealand record for 60 years until Andrew Jones approached it.
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.