held the innings steady and ensured that England won both the match and the series. The Fifth Test at Sydney was therefore academic but England nevertheless won by 8 wickets, Sutcliffe scoring 56 in his only innings. According to Bob Wyatt, Sutcliffe "backed Jardine to the hilt" on the subject of bowling "bodyline" aka "fast leg theory". Wyatt said that: "Herbert never hesitated in his views about our bowling strategy. He did not see anything wrong about pursuing the tactics". Les Ames agreed with Wyatt's view and said that, though the majority of the England players were morally opposed to Jardine's tactics, Sutcliffe took the pragmatic view that "the ball is there, it's short, so hook it". Sutcliffe himself was an outstanding player of the hook shot but Ames was unsure about how he would have coped with Larwood's accuracy if he had been playing against him. According to Bill O'Reilly, Sutcliffe was the strongest advocate of bodyline and he sometimes acted like an "unofficial captain", even initiating the tactics on his own responsibility. However, a close friend of Sutcliffe insisted that Sutcliffe "was always behind authority" and was absolutely loyal to his captain, but his private views about bodyline were another matter. 1933 to 1939 In 1933, Sutcliffe could not repeat his outstanding form of the 1932 season but he still scored a considerable 2,211 runs at 47.04, although it was his lowest tally in a dry summer since 1921. He completed 7 centuries with a highest score of 205 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. Sutcliffe scored 304 runs at 50.66 in four Tests against Australia in 1934. His first-class aggregate for the 1934 season was 2,023 runs at 49.34 with 4 centuries and a highest score of 203 against Surrey at the Oval. In 1935, Sutcliffe's Test career ended when he missed the Third Test against South Africa due to a leg injury and then never recovered his place when he was fit again. Wisden's view was that England wished to try out younger players but it pointed out that Sutcliffe "remains a prolific runscorer". Sutcliffe's record in Test cricket is outstanding. As shown by the adjacent graph, he is the only English batsman who has averaged more than 60 runs per innings in a completed career and his statistical record compares favourably with anyone except Don Bradman. Uniquely, Sutcliffe's batting average never dropped below 60 throughout his entire