Herbert Sutcliffe's 734 Runs in 1924-25 Ashes

Sutcliffe had emerged in Yorkshire's championship-winning sides of the early 1920s. His Test debut at 30 was late but well-judged; the partnership with Hobbs that began at Melbourne in the second Test of the 1924-25 series carried English Test batting through the next decade.

Sutcliffe had been pushed by Yorkshire's selectors as a Test prospect since 1923. His selection for the 1924-25 Ashes — at the age of 30, opening with the 42-year-old Hobbs — was conservative but not bold. The series produced one of the greatest debut performances in Test cricket history.

Across five Tests Sutcliffe scored 64 and 4 (Sydney, lost), 176 and 127 (Melbourne, lost — partnership of 283 with Hobbs in the first innings), 33 and 59 (Adelaide, lost), 143 and 27 (Melbourne, won — England's only Test win on Australian soil between 1912 and 1928), and 22 and 0 (Sydney, lost). Total: 734 runs in nine innings at 81.55, with four hundreds.

The 734 was the highest Test series aggregate ever made by an Englishman in Australia, and the highest Test debut series aggregate by any cricketer to that point. Sutcliffe was named one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year for 1925. He played 54 Tests in total between 1924 and 1935, scoring 4,555 runs at 60.73 — still the highest Test average by an English batsman.

“Hobbs is the master and I am the apprentice. He told me what to do, and I did it.”

Sutcliffe was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1925. He partnered Hobbs as England's opening pair through the 1926, 1928-29 and 1930 Ashes series. He played 54 Tests in total and finished with the highest Test average by any English batsman.