William Harold Ponsford <small>MBE</small> (19 October 1900 – 6 April 1991) was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain. Ponsford is the only player to twice break the world record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket; Ponsford and Brian Lara are the only cricketers to twice score 400 runs in an innings. Ponsford holds the Australian record for a partnership in Test cricket, set in 1934 in combination with Don Bradman (451 for 2nd wicket)—the man who broke many of Ponsford's other individual records. In fact, he along with Bradman set the record for the highest partnership ever for any wicket in Test cricket history when playing on away soil (451 runs for the second wicket)
Despite being heavily built, Ponsford was quick on his feet and renowned as one of the finest ever players of spin bowling. His bat, much heavier than the norm and nicknamed "Big Bertha", allowed him to drive powerfully and he possessed a strong cut shot. However, critics questioned his ability against fast bowling, and the hostile short-pitched English bowling in the Bodyline series of 1932–33 was a contributing factor in his early retirement from cricket a year and a half later. Ponsford also represented his state and country in baseball, and credited the sport with improving his cricketing skills.
Ponsford was a shy and taciturn man. After retiring from cricket, he went to some lengths to avoid interaction with the public. He spent over three decades working for the Melbourne Cricket Club, where he had some responsibility for the operations of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the scene of many of his great performances with the bat. In 1981 the Western Stand at the MCG was renamed the W.H. Ponsford Stand in his honour. This stand was demolished in 2003 as part of the redevelopment of the ground for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but its replacement was also named the W.H. Ponsford Stand. At the completion of the stadium redevelopment in 2005, a statue of Ponsford was installed outside the pavilion gates. In recognition of his contributions as a player, Ponsford was one of the ten initial inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
Early life
The son of William and Elizabeth (née Best) Ponsford, Bill Ponsford was born in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy North on 19 October 1900. His father was a postman whose family had emigrated from Devon, England, to Bendigo, Victoria, to work in the mines during the 1850s gold rush. His mother was also born in the goldfields, at Guildford, before moving to Melbourne with her father, a Crown Lands bailiff.
Ponsford learnt the rudiments of cricket from his uncle Cuthbert Best—a former club player for Fitzroy. He had the best batting and bowling averages for his school team in 1913, 1914 and 1915 and eventually rose to the captaincy. His local grade club, Fitzroy, awarded Ponsford a medallion—presented by the local mayor—as the most outstanding cricketer for his school during the 1913–14 and 1914–15 seasons.
In December 1914, Ponsford completed his schooling and earned a qualifying certificate, which allowed him to continue his education at a high school should he wish. He instead chose to attend a private training college, Hassett's, to study for the Bank Clerk's exam. Ponsford passed the exam and commenced employment with the State Savings Bank at the Elizabeth Street head office in early 1916. In May 1916, the Ponsford family moved to Orrong Road in Elsternwick, a wealthier part of Melbourne.
Cricket career
Early record breaking
thumb|left|upright=0.7|Ponsford in 1930
The First World War and the creation of the First Australian Imperial Force led to a significant shortage of players available for cricket. As a result, Ponsford was called up to make his first-grade debut for St Kilda during the 1916–17 season, just one week before his sixteenth birthday. This match was against his old club Fitzroy, and was played at the familiar Brunswick Street Oval. The young Ponsford's shot-making lacked power, and after making twelve singles, he was bowled. He played ten matches in his first season with the St Kilda First XI and averaged 9.30 runs per innings. By the 1918–19 season, Ponsford topped the club batting averages with an average of 33.<!-- Good to put all numbers to same decimal place --><!--The source only gives these figures. Adding additional zeros would be unsupported precision--> He also topped the bowling averages, taking 10 wickets at an average of 16.50 runs per wicket with his leg spin.
Despite failing to score a century for his club side (something he did not rectify until the 1923–24 season), Ponsford was called up to represent Victoria against the visiting England team in February 1921—his first-class cricket debut. His selection was controversial; the leading personality in Victorian cricket and national captain, "The Big Ship" Warwick Armstrong, had been dropped. Armstrong's omission sparked a series of angry public meetings protesting against the perceived persecution of Armstrong by administrators. While making his way to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the match, Ponsford had to walk through demonstrators carrying placards that denounced his selection at the expense of Armstrong. Without Armstrong, the Victorians were comfortably beaten by Johnny Douglas's English team by seven wickets. Batting down the order, Ponsford made six in the first innings and 19 in the second innings.
Ponsford was named captain of a Victorian side made of up of promising youngsters, to play against Tasmania at the MCG on 2–5 February 1923. In this, only his third first-class match, Ponsford broke the world record for the highest individual innings score at that level on the final day of the match, scoring 429 runs and batting for nearly eight hours. Along the way, he broke Armstrong's record for the highest score for Victoria (250), before surpassing former England captain Archie MacLaren's world record individual score of 424.
The Governor General of Australia, Lord Forster, visited the dressing rooms after the day's play to congratulate Ponsford personally. Cables from around the world applauded the new record-holder, including one from Frank Woolley, whose 305* was the previous highest score against Tasmania.
Selected for his first Sheffield Shield match, against South Australia three weeks after his record-breaking innings, Ponsford—still batting down the order, at number five—made 108. The South Australian (and former Australian) captain Clem Hill watched Ponsford bat and commented, "[Ponsford] is young and full of promise; in fact, since Jim Mackay, the brilliant New South Welshman, I think he is the best." In 1923–24 Ponsford continued to score at a heavy rate. Against Queensland in December, he made 248 and shared in a partnership of 456 runs with Edgar Mayne—the highest first wicket partnership by an Australian pair to this day. Later that season, he scored a pair of centuries against arch-rivals New South Wales, accumulating 110 in each innings.
Test debut and more records
Ponsford broke into international cricket in the 1924–25 season. After scoring 166 for Victoria against South Australia, and 81 for an Australian XI against the touring English team, he was selected for the first Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Batting at number three, Ponsford joined his captain Herbie Collins at the wicket after the dismissal of opening batsman Warren Bardsley. Although Ponsford initially struggled against the "baffling" swing bowling of Maurice Tate, the experienced Collins was confident enough to farm the strike during Tate's initial spell <!-- was this for the new ball only?? --><!--I do not know, the source says only "... before the great Victorian settled in" ...--> and Ponsford went on to make a century (110) on his Test debut. Ponsford later said "I was most grateful for Herbie taking [Tate's bowling] until I was settled in. I doubt I would have scored a century but for his selfless approach." He scored 128 in the second Test at Melbourne; thereby becoming the first batsman to score centuries in his first two Tests.
There were no international visitors to Australia in the 1925–26 season, so Ponsford was able to play a full season for Victoria. He scored 701 runs at an average of 63.72, including three centuries, making him the fourth highest runscorer for the season. At the end of the season, Ponsford was chosen for the Australian team to tour England in 1926. He was one of the younger players in the squad; 9 of the 15 players were over the age of 36. He made a good start to the tour, scoring a century (110*) in his first innings at Lord's against the Marylebone Cricket Club in May. Unfortunately for Ponsford, tonsillitis caused him to miss three weeks of cricket in June and he was not chosen for the first three Tests of the English summer. He returned for the fourth and fifth Tests. The fifth Test was the only match that saw a result—an English victory—which meant that the hosts won the series and the Ashes one Test to nil. In his next match, against New South Wales, Ponsford again rewrote the record books. Ponsford scored 352 runs, 334 of them in a single day, and helped Victoria to an innings total of 1,107, which remains the highest team total in first-class cricket, breaking Victoria's own record set four years earlier. After Ponsford played the ball back on to his stumps to be dismissed bowled, he then turned to look at his broken wicket and famously said, "Cripes, I am unlucky." For the season, Ponsford went on to score 1,229 runs at an average of 122.90, including six centuries and two half-centuries from only ten innings.
In the 1927–28 season, Ponsford continued where he had left off at the end of the previous summer. Ponsford topped the aggregate and the averages for the season, scoring 1,217 runs at an average of 152.12. In December 1927, he improved on his own first-class world record score, hitting 437 against Queensland; later that month he scored 202 and 38 against New South Wales and he then added another 336 against South Australia over the New Year. He had scored 1,013 runs in the space of four innings. This feat was part of a sequence in which he scored a century in a record ten consecutive first-class matches from December 1926 to December 1927. In January 1928 the Daily News in London described Ponsford as "the most remarkable and the most heart-breaking scoring-machine ever invented". Ponsford toured New Zealand with an Australian squad in 1928. In the six first-class matches scheduled, he scored 452 at an average of 56.50, second only to his opening partner Bill Woodfull in both average and aggregate. In the 1929–30 domestic season, Ponsford scored 729 runs at an average of 45.56, including three centuries, to finish fourth in the season aggregates.
Struggles and success
thumb|upright=0.7|Ponsford c. 1930
A strong England team—captained by Percy Chapman and including Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe, Wally Hammond and Harold Larwood—toured Australia in 1928–29. Ponsford's form was good in the lead up to the Tests; he scored 60 not out for Victoria against the tourists, and added 275* against South Australia. Before the Test series started, Ponsford had declared in a column in the Herald that Harold Larwood's "pace through the air is not all that fast for a fast bowler", with the qualification that "he makes great pace off the pitch". Larwood dismissed him for scores of two and six in the first Test, and fractured a bone in Ponsford's hand in the second. The injury sidelined Ponsford for the remainder of the Test series.
Ponsford travelled to England for a second time, with the 1930 Australian team. In a wet summer, Australia won the series two Tests to one, recovering The Ashes. For the second time in as many trips to England, Ponsford fell ill—gastritis caused him to miss the third Test at Headingley Cricket Ground. Despite this setback, Ponsford scored 330 runs in the Tests at an average of 55.00. Wisden wrote, "Ponsford had a much better season—especially in the Test matches—than four years previously. ... In helping his captain to wear down England's bowling he accomplished great work and, even if he was seldom really attractive to watch, there could be no question about his skill and how difficult he was to get out." The change had little effect on Ponsford, who scored 467 runs at an average of 77.83 against the Caribbean tourists. Ponsford and Jackson started the Test series well, their 172 run partnership in the second innings taking Australia to a 10-wicket victory in the first Test. Ponsford finished just short of his century, unbeaten on 92. Before walking out to bat, Jackson had said to Ponsford, "I see the skipper padded up. We won't give him a hit!" Another century (109) in the third Test was part of a 229 run partnership with Bradman, who went on to score 223. Ponsford was reunited with Woodfull as his opening partner for the remaining Tests after Jackson, ill and struggling for form, was omitted. The West Indies had a famous victory in the fifth Test, but lost the series 4–1. It was Bradman who dominated with the bat for Australia, scoring four centuries and 806 runs overall. While Bodyline sought to curb Bradman, it was used against all the Australian batsmen, including Ponsford<!-- what about the bunnies?? --><!--I have no idea if it was bowled at tailenders.-->. After being bowled twice behind his legs—by Larwood for 32 in the first innings and for two in the second innings by Bill Voce—in the first Test at Sydney, Ponsford was omitted from the team for the second Test at Melbourne. Ponsford returned for the third Test in Adelaide, batting down the order. The Test was controversial and highly acrimonious; several Australian batsmen—including Woodfull and Bert Oldfield—were hit on the body and head from the English fast bowling. Ponsford was hit on several occasions during his innings of 85; he chose to turn his torso and take the rising balls on his body—especially on his left shoulder blade and backside—rather than risk a catch to the leg side fielders. When Ponsford returned to the dressing room after his dismissal, his teammates were amazed by the mass of bruises that covered his back and shoulders. Ponsford remarked to Bill O'Reilly, "I wouldn't mind having a couple more if I could get a hundred."
After failing in the fourth Test, Ponsford was again dropped. The hostile barrage of short-pitched bowling had a major impact on Ponsford's technique and career. In the three Tests that Ponsford played during the Bodyline series, he estimated he was hit around fifty times. While the manager of the England team, Pelham Warner, thought that Ponsford "met the fast-leg theory in plucky and able style", this behaviour was criticised by the British cricket writer, R. C. Robertson-Glasgow.
Triumph and retirement
thumb|Bradman and Ponsford during the fourth Test against England in 1934
After the disappointments of the Bodyline series, Ponsford returned to domestic cricket in 1933–34, scoring 606 runs at an average of 50.50. At the end of the domestic season, he was selected for his third tour of England with the Australian team in 1934. Illness again interrupted Ponsford's English summer, causing him to miss the second Test at Lord's. In the final two Tests of the series, the two record breakers—Ponsford and Bradman—combined in two remarkable partnerships. The partnership was the highest ever in Test cricket at the time and as of 2009 is still the highest fourth wicket partnership for Australia. Wisden said of Ponsford's innings "... he hit the ball hard and placed it well when scoring in front of the wicket. Moreover, his defence was rock-like in its steadiness and accuracy."
With the series locked at 1–1, the fifth and deciding Test at The Oval saw an even larger partnership between Bradman and Ponsford. The pair added 451 runs for the second wicket in an Australian total of 701 runs. Bradman scored 244 and Ponsford—again dismissed hit wicket—his highest Test score, 266. This partnership remained the highest in Tests until 1991 and the highest for the second wicket until 1997. As of 2026, it remains the highest ever in Australian Test history. Again Wisden was complimentary, saying "It would be hard to speak in too high terms of praise of the magnificent displays of batting given by Ponsford and Bradman" but noted that "Before Bradman joined him Ponsford had shown an inclination to draw away from the bowling of Bowes."
In the four Tests that Ponsford for the English summer, he made 569 runs at an average of 94.83. His performance saw him named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1935.