Herbert Sutcliffe in 1932–33 included the controversial "bodyline" series, in which Sutcliffe is perceived to have been one of Douglas Jardine's main supporters. Although close friends have stated that Sutcliffe did not approve of bodyline, he always acted out of fierce loyalty to his team captain and was committed to his team's cause. In statistical terms, Sutcliffe was one of the most successful Test batsmen ever; his completed career batting average was 60.73 which is the highest by any English batsman and the fifth-highest worldwide (i.e., of Test batsmen with 20 completed innings) behind only Don Bradman, Adam Voges, Graeme Pollock and
History of the England cricket team from 1945 the world after the 1999 home series loss to New Zealand. Under their new captain Graham Gooch at the beginning of the decade, England missed out on a historic victory against the all-conquering West Indian cricket team, by losing their final two test matches having gone into them with a 1–0 lead. The elevation to the position of captain for Gooch led to him reaching new heights as a batsman during the summer of 1990. The new captain broke the record for most number of runs in a match against India at Lord's with scores of 333 and 123. New