In that year, however, he helped the team to their finest record ever in the County Championship with a number of surprising performances as an accurate left arm spinner, the best of which was nine for 74 against Middlesex, five for 71 against Derbyshire and six for 20 against Wales.

1929 saw Hopwood establish a regular place he held until the war and with Hallows declining and rule changes reducing what had previously been remarkable run-scoring, he became of great value to the team even if he was very slow and ungraceful with a backlift consistently compared with Bill Woodfull.

The next two years were ordinary, but in the dry summer of 1933 Hopwood suddenly jumped to the top of the tree, scoring over 1,900 runs and revealing himself one of the soundest and most patient opening batsmen in the game.

Late in the season he confirmed his skill as a bowler by taking eleven wickets on a good pitch against Middlesex and then completing the match double against Leicestershire with a return of nine for 33, which was a surprising leap from his previous best 7 for 91.

Thus it was unsurprising when Hopwood scored only twelve runs in two innings and set a record for bowling the most balls in Test cricket (462) without taking a wicket.