During the five years 1928 to 1932, Herbert Sutcliffe played throughout the period for Yorkshire, continuing his highly successful opening partnership with Percy Holmes which reached its peak of achievement in 1932 when they set a then world record partnership for any wicket of 555, the stand including Sutcliffe's career highest score of 313. For England in Test cricket, Sutcliffe made his only tour of South Africa in 1927–28 and his second tour of Australia in 1928–29, during which he played arguably the greatest innings of his career. In the winter of 1930–31, he and Jack Hobbs went on a private tour of India and Ceylon which has caused some controversy in terms of their career statistics. Sutcliffe opened the innings for England throughout the period, playing in home series each season but most notably against Australia in 1930.
Sutcliffe made 181 first-class appearances with 254 innings in which he was not out 36 times, scoring 15,529 runs for a total average of 70.35.
1927–28 MCC tour of South Africa
On the 1927–28 tour of South Africa, Sutcliffe's only tour of that country, he played in 14 matches and scored 1,030 runs at 51.50 with 2 centuries and a highest score of 102. He was able to open the England innings with Holmes, Hobbs having declined the tour, and made his score of 102 in the first innings of the First Test at the Old Wanderers ground in Johannesburg, England winning by 10 wickets. In the Second Test at Newlands in Cape Town, Holmes and Sutcliffe shared 140 for the first wicket in the second innings, Holmes scoring 88 and Sutcliffe 99. England won by 87 runs. Sutcliffe was the first England batsman ever to be dismissed for 99 in a Test innings. After the Third Test was drawn, South Africa recovered well to square the series with wins in the Fourth and Fifth Tests.
1928 English cricket season
In 1928, Sutcliffe scored 3,000 runs in a season for the first time, a feat he repeated in 1931 and 1932, becoming the first player to achieve it three times. Only Patsy Hendren and Wally Hammond have equalled the feat. Sutcliffe's 1928 tally was 3,002 at 76.97 with a highest score of 228 among 13 centuries and 13 half-centuries. It was not enough to help Yorkshire regain the championship as, although they were unbeaten, too many drawn games meant they finished 4th behind Lancashire.
It was a time for change in the Yorkshire team. William Worsley had replaced Lupton as captain and Arthur Wood had replaced Dolphin as wicket-keeper. Abe Waddington had also retired and his replacement was nominally fast bowler Frank Dennis, although Yorkshire often included Wilf Barber as an extra batsman. Tragically, Yorkshire also lost Roy Kilner who died in April. Arthur Mitchell now came into the team on a regular basis. Sutcliffe was becoming one of the more senior players but he still had several stalwart colleagues in Holmes, Oldroyd, Leyland, Rhodes, Robinson and Macaulay.
Sutcliffe played in all three Tests against West Indies in 1928. This was West Indies' inaugural Test series and their batsmen struggled against a strong England attack so that England was able to win all three Tests by an innings. But Sutcliffe was very impressed by the fast bowling of Learie Constantine, George Francis and Herman Griffith and said of them during the Lord's Test that he had "never played finer fast bowling". In the First Test at Lord's, England won by an innings and 58 runs; Sutcliffe opened with Charlie Hallows and made 48. In the Second Test at Old Trafford, England won by an innings and 30 runs; Sutcliffe opened with Hobbs, who had recovered from an injury, and made 54 in a first wicket partnership of 119. In the Third Test at The Oval, England won by an innings and 71 runs; Sutcliffe and Hobbs put on 155 before Sutcliffe was out for 63, while Hobbs went on to make 159.
1928–29 MCC tour of Australia
Under the leadership of Percy Chapman, Sutcliffe toured Australia again in 1928–29 with Hobbs as his opening partner. Although they both did well and produced one of their most memorable partnerships in the Third Test, they were overshadowed by Wally Hammond who scored a record 1,553 runs at 91.35 in just 13 tour matches with 7 centuries and a highest score of 251. In contrast, Hobbs and Sutcliffe scored 2 centuries apiece and neither accomplished 1,000 tour runs.