DOUBLE CENTURIES

Evening Star, Issue 22444, 15 September 1936, Page 4

DOUBLE CENTURIES

HAMMOND HEADS BRADMAH Owing chiefly to iJI-health, Walter Hammond, England’s great batsman, made a late start this season, and was a bit slow in striking form, but recently he has been showing all his old ability as a run-getter. On August 15 he capped his previous performances for the season with a score of 217 in the third test match between England and India (says an exchange). With this feat he again took the lead as the scorer of more double centuries than any other batsman in the history of the game. Last season, in Australia, Don Bradman, with three scores exceeding 200, drew level with Hammond, each having 24 such scores. Now Hammond has taken the lead again with his twenty-fifth score of this magnitude. Hammond, of course, has played a great deal more cricket than has Bradman, and he is a long way ahead of Bradman in the number of century scores made—his total was 106 to Bradman’s 55 when the present English sea-

sou started —but Bradman’s percentage of centuries to innings played is far supezdor. It works out at one in every 3.36 innings —ss in 185 innings, to be exact. Should Bradman and Hammond both be in their best form in the coming tests there should be some treats for the spectatox-s. They are probably the two best batsmen in the worljl, and they both get their runs by attractive methods.