partnerships with Hobbs for England and with Holmes for Yorkshire. One of the main factors in these partnerships was mutual understanding, especially when it came to their judgment of singles, and Sutcliffe was involved in relatively few run outs when batting with either Hobbs or Holmes. John Arlott wrote that Sutcliffe was a batsman of "immense application and thought". Arlott listed his main qualities as sound defence, powerful offside driving and "arguably the best hooker of his age". But above all, says Arlott, Sutcliffe was "cool, beyond disturbance, the master of survival and the ultimate pragmatist of cricket". Douglas Jardine touched on this point when, describing Sutcliffe's tiredness at the end of the bodyline series, he added that he "feels inclined to think that Sutcliffe rather enjoys appearing to be in difficulties: he so rarely fails to surmount them". Sutcliffe was noted for his courage when facing the world's fastest bowlers, such as Harold Larwood who paid this tribute to Sutcliffe after his death: Herbert Sutcliffe needed some getting out. He was a great battler for England and for Yorkshire. He never gave his wicket away unless he was satisfied he had made enough already. With Percy Holmes he formed just about the finest opening partnership I bowled against. I got him out cheaply a few times, but he scored a few hundreds against my bowling, so I reckon we ended up just about square. Ian Peebles wrote of him: Where he was unexcelled was in the courage, determination and concentration he brought to the job in hand. Never flustered, and certainly never intimidated, he was at his best on the big or testing occasion. Sutcliffe told Fred Trueman that, although some batsmen can play fast bowling and some can't, "if everybody told the truth, no one really likes it". Trueman speaks of Sutcliffe's unselfish attitude when batting as "he didn't hog the limelight". Rather, he was a "severely practical performer (who) had to cut out the frills as an opening batsman". Sutcliffe's job was to "lay the foundations" of the innings; his main qualifications were having "the ideal temperament" and being "a magnificent judge of line and length". Sutcliffe lacked the "polished elegance of Hobbs" as he was "essentially a practical batsman with a superb judgment of length, pace and direction". He stood with the face of the bat very open (i.e., to the bowler) so that he could