Bill Ponsford retired after the Bodyline series

It was an astonishing knock. The young Victorian batsman had played only three first-class innings, and was in only his third first-class match. But in 1923, in 477 absorbing minutes against Tasmania, Bill Ponsford hit 429 runs, then a world record for a first-class match.

It put Ponsford’s name in the headlines and made him our greatest batsman of the era. But he was just getting started. He would later break that record and set others as a stalwart of the Victorian and

Australian teams. Even when Don Bradman emerged several years later as a star batsman, Ponsford was still rated by many as the best, or at least as good as Bradman.

With his huge 1.2kg bat, nicknamed “Big Bertha” after the giant German World War I gun, he was one of Australia’s greatest run makers.

He was born William Harold Ponsford 120 years ago — on October 19, 1900 — in the Melbourne suburb of North Fitzroy, the son of a postman.

At school he showed athletic abilities, winning medals for cricket. Ponsford was also passionate about baseball, representing Victoria in 1919 before he made his first-class cricket debut in February 1921.

He scored only 19 and six as Victoria lost to the touring English, and it was a year before he was selected again to play, this time against Tasmania when he scored his first century. In 1923 he made his record-breaking score of 429 in a match in which Victoria made a record total of 1059 (the first four-figure total by a first-class team). In 1924 he scored 110 on his Test debut against England and backed that up with 128 in the second innings, the first man to do so.

In 1927 Ponsford beat his own 1923 record by scoring

437 against Queensland. He is the only player to have scored two quadruple centuries.

During the 1932-33 Bodyline series, Ponsford struggled against the English pace attack and was dropped for the second Test.

In the 1934 Test series he was dogged by illness but still managed a record fourthwicket partnership of 451 with Bradman. He ended that season with an average of 94.83. But the Bodyline experience had been bad for Ponsford and he announced his retirement at the end of the 1934 season.

Record maker Bill Ponsford.