#amateur professional

2 incidents tagged

Len Hutton — England's First Professional Test Captain, 1952

England vs India

1952-06-05

When MCC named Len Hutton to lead England in the first Test against India in June 1952, it broke a tradition that had governed English cricket for more than half a century — only amateurs led the national side. Hutton, a Yorkshire professional and the country's leading batsman, refused to relinquish his professional status to take the job. The decision marked a quiet but decisive crack in cricket's class divide.

#england#len-hutton#captaincy

🔥Serious

Hammond Turns Amateur — November 1937

England / Gloucestershire

1937-11-15

In November 1937 Wally Hammond — the leading professional batsman of his era — was accepted by MCC as an amateur, opening the door to the England captaincy he received six months later for the 1938 Ashes. The change crystallised inter-war debates about the amateur-professional divide and the unwritten rule that England's captain be amateur.

#wally-hammond#1937#amateur-professional