present its full width to the ball every delivery. He was noted as a firm striker off the front foot who also had efficient use of the pull and hook shots. The 1933 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack said of Sutcliffe, in respect of the record partnership with Percy Holmes in 1932, that "like practically all great batsmen, he was generally at much pains to play himself in, and at all times his cricket – even when well set – proved rather more restrained than the situation warranted". The report goes on to say that Sutcliffe "undoubtedly felt a heavy responsibility rested upon him" but concluded by remarking on "how he could hit when he considered he might set about run-getting in light-hearted fashion". As with all great players, much of Sutcliffe's success was down to hard work. In a contribution to the 1932 edition of Wisden, Lord Hawke said of Sutcliffe that "nobody I know trained, and trains, harder or more conscientiously than Sutcliffe. I ascribe much of his success to that fact". In an evaluation of Jack Hobbs, Simon Wilde wrote that, amongst English batsmen, until Wally Hammond came to the fore in the late 1920s: Second in line was undoubtedly the cool, methodical Sutcliffe, Hobbs's trusted opening partner for England, whose average of 66.85 in Ashes matches is the second-highest amongst batsmen with 1,000 runs, 23 points behind Bradman's and 12 ahead of Hobbs's. In his first series against Australia, in 1924–25, Sutcliffe outscored Hobbs, but Hobbs returned home and reaffirmed his position with a record-breaking season in England. Sutcliffe, who began his days as a stylist, later made the most of his abilities with powers of defence and concentration rarely, if ever, seen before (Bradman said Sutcliffe had the best temperament of any cricketer he saw). But Sutcliffe himself conceded that he did not possess the gifts of Hobbs, Hammond or Hutton. The late R. C. Robertson-Glasgow had written of Sutcliffe a tribute that Wisden appended to Sutcliffe's obituary: [He] was the serenest batsman I have known. Whatever may have passed under that calm brow – anger, joy, disagreement, surprise, relief, triumph – no outward sign was betrayed on the field of play. When I first saw him, in 1919, he was a debonair and powerful stylist. As you bowled opening overs to the later Sutcliffe you noticed the entire development of every defensive art; the