and came top of the Surrey batting averages. He scored a century in the Gentlemen v Players match, which impressed influential observers at Lord's, and represented England in a trial match against The Rest. In this latter match, when Percy Chapman withdrew at the last minute, Jardine took over the captaincy, earning praise in the press for his performance. By this stage, he was considered a certainty to tour Australia the following winter. Test cricketer Jardine's batting performance in 1928 was similar to that from the previous season. He played 14 matches, scoring 1,133 runs at an average of 87.15. He was successful in high-profile matches, scoring 193 for Gentlemen at the Oval, where the crowd had booed his slow start (at one stage, he took half an hour to score two runs) but later cheered him as his last fifty runs were scored in half an hour. For the same team at Lord's, he scored 86 and 40. He captained The Rest against England in a Test trial and made the highest score in each innings, scoring 74 not out in the fourth innings to help his team to draw the game on a difficult pitch, against international bowlers Maurice Tate and Harold Larwood. Immediately after this match, Jardine made his Test debut against the West Indies who were touring England that season. This was West Indies' first ever Test match. The team possessed several fast bowlers who had enjoyed some success on the tour of England. Many batsmen only played them with difficulty, particularly on the occasional fast-paced pitch, but Jardine played them confidently. Jardine played in the first two Tests, both of which were won by England by an innings, but missed the third for reasons that were not revealed. He scored 22 on his debut, but was more successful in the second Test, scoring 83. During this innings, when he had scored 26, he accidentally hit his wicket when setting off for a run but was given not out. At the time, the laws of the game stated that a batsman was not out if he had completed his shot and was setting off for a run; the West Indian cricketer Learie Constantine believed that Jardine was only given not out because he told the umpire his shot was complete. Later, while he was batting with Tate, a player with whom he did not have a