Wally Hammond's Last Test — Sydney, March 1947

Hammond had averaged over 60 in 14 Tests during the 1930s and was widely regarded as the best slip fielder of his time. He had served in the RAF during the war (commissioned, mostly in administrative roles in Egypt and South Africa) and emerged tired rather than recharged.

The Adelaide Test of January 1947 had been drawn after Compton scored centuries in both innings; Hammond was carried off on the third evening. Doctors prescribed bed rest. England nominated Yardley for Sydney.

Hammond, then 43, had been a hesitant captain on the post-war tour. He had centuries in the warm-up matches (131 v an Australian XI at Northam, 208 v Western Australia) but the Test series was a disappointment: he managed only 168 runs at 21 in the first four Tests. The seven-year wartime gap, combined with personal strain — his second marriage and an emerging investment business — left him visibly drained.

Fibrositis seized him during the fourth Test at Adelaide in heat that approached 40°C. He was carried from the field; Yardley, his vice-captain, took over the captaincy for the final Test at Sydney where England were beaten by five wickets.

Hammond's Test record at retirement: 7,249 runs at 58.45 with 22 hundreds, plus 83 wickets and 110 catches in 85 Tests. He played one final first-class match for Gloucestershire in 1951 and emigrated to South Africa, where he died in 1965.

England's selectors moved through Yardley, Brown and Mann before settling on Hutton in 1952. Hammond returned home, divorced, remarried and moved to Natal in 1951. He coached briefly at Natal University.