Bill Ponsford

Bill Ponsford

MBE

Studio portrait of William Ponsford, ca. 1925.jpg
Personal information
Full name	William Harold Ponsford
Born	(1900-10-19)19 October 1900 Fitzroy North, Victoria, Australia
Died	6 April 1991(1991-04-06) (aged 90) Kyneton, Victoria, Australia
Nickname	Ponny, Puddin'[1]
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium
Role	Opening batsman
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 117)	19 December 1924 v England
Last Test	22 August 1934 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1921–1934	Victoria
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 29 162 Runs scored 2,122 13,819 Batting average 48.22 65.18 100s/50s 7/6 47/43 Top score 266 437 Balls bowled – 38 Wickets – 0 Bowling average – – 5 wickets in innings – – 10 wickets in match – – Best bowling – – Catches/stumpings 21/0 71/0
Source: CricketArchive, 29 February 2008

William Harold Ponsford MBE (19 October 1900 – 6 April 1991) was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain. Ponsford is the only player to twice break the world record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket; Ponsford and Brian Lara are the only cricketers to twice score 400 runs in an innings. Ponsford holds the Australian record for a partnership in Test cricket, set in 1934 in combination with Don Bradman (451 for 2nd wicket)—the man who broke many of Ponsford's other individual records. In fact, he along with Bradman set the record for the highest partnership ever for any wicket in Test cricket history when playing on away soil (451 runs for the second wicket)^[2]

Despite being heavily built, Ponsford was quick on his feet and renowned as one of the finest ever players of spin bowling. His bat, much heavier than the norm and nicknamed "Big Bertha", allowed him to drive powerfully and he possessed a strong cut shot. However, critics questioned his ability against fast bowling, and the hostile short-pitched English bowling in the Bodyline series of 1932–33 was a contributing factor in his early retirement from cricket a year and a half later.^[3] Ponsford also represented his state and country in baseball, and credited the sport with improving his cricketing skills.

Ponsford was a shy and taciturn man. After retiring from cricket, he went to some lengths to avoid interaction with the public. He spent over three decades working for the Melbourne Cricket Club, where he had some responsibility for the operations of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the scene of many of his great performances with the bat. In 1981 the Western Stand at the MCG was renamed the W.H. Ponsford Stand in his honour. This stand was demolished in 2003 as part of the redevelopment of the ground for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but its replacement was also named the W.H. Ponsford Stand.^[4] At the completion of the stadium redevelopment in 2005, a statue of Ponsford was installed outside the pavilion gates. In recognition of his contributions as a player, Ponsford was one of the ten initial inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.