Herbert Sutcliffe's Hundredth First-Class century bat, the face inscribed in ink FOR BILLIE FROM DADDY, THIS BAT WAS USED IN SCORING MY HUNDREDTH CENT

Herbert Sutcliffe's Hundredth First-Class century bat, the face inscribed in ink FOR BILLIE FROM DADDY, THIS BAT WAS USED IN SCORING MY HUNDREDTH CENTURY IN FIRST CLASS CRICKET, HERBERT SUTCLIFFE, in used condition with contemporary tape repair Sutcliffe scored his hundredth century (132) in First-Class cricket at Bradford against Gloucestershire in 1932, the seventh batsman to have performed this feat. It is generally considered to have been one of the quickest and most dominating of his career. Yorkshire needed to score quick runs in their second innings to prevent the match dwindling to a draw. Sutcliffe reached his century in an hour and three quarters. His innings included eight sixes and eight fours, before he was finally caught by a splendid running catch on the boundary. With a target set in place, Yorkshire secured victory in the final over of a thrilling match. The hundredth century came in a rich vein of form for the Yorkshire opening batsman as he compiled 777 runs in four innings in three consecutive matches. Sutcliffe went on to score 149 first class hundreds, placing him fifth in the all time list behind J.B. Hobbs, E.H. Hendren, W.R. Hammond, and C.P. Mead. In 1937 Sutcliffe recorded his hundredth century for Yorkshire in the Roses match played at Sheffield. The bat is inscribed to his son 'Billie' (William Herbert Hobbs Sutcliffe) who went on to captain Yorkshire in 1956 and 1957. Provenance: The Herbert Sutcliffe Collection, Sotheby's, 9th July 1999, as lot 39.