 Hammond reached 1 @,@ 239 runs in 1924 , scoring a century against Somerset and reaching fifty against Oxford , Essex and Hampshire . In the final County Championship match of the season , against Middlesex , he scored 174 not out after Gloucestershire had been bowled out for 31 in their first innings . He finished the season with an average of 30 @.@ 21 and supplemented his batting with 29 wickets . He improved on this record in 1925 with 1 @,@ 818 runs at an average of 34 @.@ 30 and 68 wickets at an average of just under 30 , more than doubling his career aggregate of wickets . His bowling performances led critics to describe him as a potentially good all @-@ rounder . Hammond was not satisfied with his batting form in 1925 , but against Lancashire at Old Trafford , he scored 250 not out , repeatedly hooking the short @-@ pitched bowling of Australian Test bowler Ted McDonald . Cardus described it as " one of the finest innings that can ever have been accomplished by a boy of his age " . Over these two seasons , Hammond increasingly batted in the middle order , where he remained for most of his career . 
