His parents, William—a bombardier in the Royal Garrison Artillery—and Marion Hammond (née Crisp), lived in the married quarters at Dover Castle where Walter was born.

[3] Hammond later recalled playing cricket in Malta using improvised equipment, including a soldier's old bat which he believed taught him to strike the ball powerfully.

[13][14] However, his plans changed when his headmaster wrote to the captain of Gloucestershire, Foster Robinson, reporting Hammond's school cricket record and suggesting that they take a look at him.

Playing only two first-class matches in 1921, both against the powerful Australian tourists, Hammond scored two runs in three innings, overwhelmed by fast bowler Jack Gregory.

[18][19] In between these games, Gloucestershire arranged his appointment as assistant coach at Clifton College, Bristol, where he worked on his batting technique with former county cricketers John Tunnicliffe and George Dennett.

Even so, the Rovers' trainer, Bert Williams, and manager, Andy Wilson, believed that Hammond, one of the fastest players they had seen at the club, would have had the potential to play international football.

[31] Hammond was not satisfied with his batting form in 1925,[32] but against Lancashire at Old Trafford, he scored 250 not out, repeatedly hooking the short-pitched bowling of Australian Test bowler Ted McDonald.

[39] Towards the end of the tour, Hammond fell seriously ill; according to him, a mosquito stung him in the groin area, close to a strain he had suffered, causing blood poisoning.

His condition worsened to the point where the doctors believed he would die; they considered amputating his leg, a suggestion vetoed by his mother out of concern for his career.

He has also suggested that its treatment, which in the days before antibiotics probably involved mercury, adversely affected Hammond's subsequent character and personality, leading to moody and depressive behaviour.

He showed good batting form, but once George Geary was injured, a strong but not fully representative side found itself short of bowling, forcing Hammond to play as an all-rounder.

Unless the bowler bowled a bad ball, he limited his scoring between extra cover and midwicket, as the Australians unsuccessfully tried to block his shots in that area.

[80][81] While Bradman dominated, Hammond found it very difficult to play the leg spin bowling of Clarrie Grimmett, who dismissed him five times.

[21] Although he remained a key batsman for Gloucestershire, both his aggregate and average fell, at least partly due to wet weather that often led to difficult batting conditions.

Known as the Bodyline series, it became notorious for the controversial English tactic of bowling short on the line of leg stump, making the ball rise towards the batsman's body to create deflections that could be caught by leg-side fielders.

[29] Although Wisden said that Hammond accomplished little with the ball,[103] team manager Plum Warner praised his bowling, claiming that during the first Test it was comparable to that of revered former England bowler Sydney Barnes.

[105] In an early game on tour against Victoria, Hammond was instructed by Jardine to attack the bowling of Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, who was on the verge of making his Test debut.

[119] Les Ames, who played in the three-match series, won by England 2–0, believed that the West Indian pacemen worried Hammond, who showed a weakness against short, fast bowling.

Wisden noted that the West Indian pace attack, considered the best in the world by Bob Wyatt, unsettled the English batsmen; the home bowlers were accused of intimidation by some of the England side.

Hammond had been offered the joint captaincy with Bev Lyon, conditional on his becoming assistant secretary at the club to enable him to play as an amateur, but declined for financial reasons.

[62] At the end of the season, in November 1937, it was announced that he had accepted a job, joining the Marsham Tyres board of directors, meaning he would play as an amateur in the future.

[161] While Wisden commended his adventurous style of leadership, others such as Basil Allen, his predecessor as captain, did not approve; their main criticism was his failure to encourage his players.

[169] On the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the services and was commissioned as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) in October 1939.

[59] Gloucestershire fell to fifth in the County Championship, and Hammond, after enthusiastically making the team very competitive at the start of the season, became increasingly affected by pain, particularly in damp weather.

[187] Team spirit was good on the outward journey, but Hammond's forthcoming divorce and other domestic concerns caused him to become isolated from the players and increasingly moody.

Bradman, who looked in poor form and uncertain to continue his cricket career for much longer, had reached 28 when the English team believed he had edged the ball to Jack Ikin at slip.

The instant he walked out of a pavilion, white-spotted blue handkerchief showing from his right pocket, bat tucked underarm, cap at a hint of an angle, he was identifiable as a thoroughbred.

[208] In the words of Patrick Murphy, fellow players considered him "on a different plane—majestic, assured, poised, a devastating amalgam of the physical and mental attributes that make up a great batsman.

[212] However, Australian bowlers such as O'Reilly and Grimmett troubled him by bowling at his leg stump, restricting his scoring as he had fewer effective leg-side shots.

She remained loyal, but their relations gradually broke down, even after she sailed to South Africa, joining Hammond on tour in 1939 in an attempt to save the marriage.