[5] Ponsford grew up on Newry St in Fitzroy North, and attended the nearby Alfred Crescent School, which stood beside the Edinburgh Gardens.

[8] The medallion was awarded along with an honorary membership of the club, and Ponsford trained enthusiastically, running from school to the nearby Brunswick Street Oval in the Edinburgh Gardens to practise in the nets.

[16] Despite failing to score a century for his club side (something he did not rectify until the 1923–24 season), Ponsford was called up to represent Victoria against the visiting England team in February 1921—his first-class cricket debut.

[16][17] His selection was controversial; the leading personality in Victorian cricket and national captain, "The Big Ship" Warwick Armstrong, had been dropped.

[18] While making his way to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the match, Ponsford had to walk through demonstrators carrying placards that denounced his selection at the expense of Armstrong.

[17] Later that month, Ponsford made his maiden first-class century, scoring 162 against Tasmania at the NTCA Ground in Launceston, despite batting low in the order, at number eight.

[22] The Governor General of Australia, Lord Forster, visited the dressing rooms after the day's play to congratulate Ponsford personally.

After scoring 166 for Victoria against South Australia, and 81 for an Australian XI against the touring English team, he was selected for the first Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

[25][29][30] Batting at number three, Ponsford joined his captain Herbie Collins at the wicket after the dismissal of opening batsman Warren Bardsley.

He started the season by hitting 214 runs (out of a Victoria team total of 315) against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval and followed this with 151 at the MCG against Queensland.

[42][43] After Ponsford played the ball back on to his stumps to be dismissed bowled, he then turned to look at his broken wicket and famously said, "Cripes, I am unlucky.

In helping his captain to wear down England's bowling he accomplished great work and, even if he was seldom really attractive to watch, there could be no question about his skill and how difficult he was to get out.

[65] In a response to the record-breaking feats of Don Bradman, the English team that toured Australia in 1932–33—led by Douglas Jardine—adopted a tactic of fast, short pitched bowling directed at the body, later known as Bodyline.

[69] The Test was controversial and highly acrimonious; several Australian batsmen—including Woodfull and Bert Oldfield—were hit on the body and head from the English fast bowling.

[70] Ponsford was hit on several occasions during his innings of 85; he chose to turn his torso and take the rising balls on his body—especially on his left shoulder blade and backside—rather than risk a catch to the leg side fielders.

[74] While the manager of the England team, Pelham Warner, thought that Ponsford "met the fast-leg theory in plucky and able style",[75] this behaviour was criticised by the British cricket writer, R. C.

A delivery overpitched to any degree, he almost invariably punished to the full, while he could cut and turn the ball to leg with great certainty.Upon their return to Australia, a testimonial match was arranged on behalf of the two Victorian opening batsmen, Woodfull and Ponsford.

Woodfull—the senior member of the partnership—had announced his retirement from first-class cricket before returning from England and the press had speculated that Ponsford would succeed him as captain of Victoria.

This news was received with dismay by Australian fans, who had earlier seen players such as Ted McDonald leave Australia and accept contracts in the professional English leagues.

He was appointed to an unspecified office job working for the club secretary Hugh Trumble, which required him to transfer his cricket and baseball allegiances from St Kilda to Melbourne.

[97] Ponsford met Vera Neill at his local Methodist church; the pair married in 1924 and settled in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield South.

[100] In 1978, four years after the death of his wife, Ponsford moved in with his son, Geoff, at Woodend in rural Victoria, and was an active lawn bowler.

At the time, baseball was generally played in Australia during the winter months, as many of the leading players were enthusiastic cricketers who viewed the sport as a means of improving their fielding skills.

[103] As with cricket, Ponsford started his baseball career at Alfred Crescent School, where his coach was the former Victorian player Charles Landsdown.

[104] The tournament coincided with a visit to Australia by two professional major league teams from the United States—the Chicago White Sox and the New York Giants.

He felt that baseball gave a player more opportunities to perform: "In cricket you may have the bad luck to get out early; which often means a blank afternoon.

"[118] For services to cricket, Ponsford was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1982 New Year Honours announced on 31 December 1981.

Ponsford was described by his son as being "tickled pink" by the honour, but that he would only agree to the renaming if he was not required to participate in any public appearance or media interview.

"[132] Robinson described Ponsford as the "founder of total batting, the first to make a habit of regarding 100 as merely the opening battle in a campaign for a larger triumph.

[136] When volunteering for service with the Royal Australian Air Force, Ponsford discovered he possessed abnormal colour vision, unable to distinguish red from green.