 In the 1937 season , Hammond scored 3 @,@ 252 runs at an average of 65 @.@ 04 , passing 3 @,@ 000 runs a second time , and taking 48 wickets . In the three Tests against New Zealand , he passed the previous record number of England appearances , overtaking Frank Woolley 's 64 Tests . While scoring 140 in the first Test , he passed the total number of runs scored by Jack Hobbs to become the leading run scorer in Tests , a record he held until it was broken by Colin Cowdrey in December 1970 . This innings was his only score above fifty in the series , in which he scored 204 runs ( average 51 ) . At the end of the season , in November 1937 , it was announced that he had accepted a job , joining the Marsham Tyres board of directors , meaning he would play as an amateur in the future . This led to immediate speculation that he would be made captain of England in the 1938 Ashes series . The chairman of selectors , Plum Warner , later wrote that there was never any doubt from then that Hammond would be captain . 
