Two recent books, by David Woodhouse and Richard Whitehead, covering English tours to West Indies and Australia during the mid-1950s, offer a good analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Hutton both as batsman and captain. His philosophy was formed in the Yorkshire dressing room of the 1930s and never changed. Treat the game as seriously as you would a real battle. Don't take risks. Give opponents nothing. Research everything cricket-related in minute detail: form, pitches, character of teammates and opponents, etc. Ignore anything not directly affecting the result of matches. Coming up against Bradman reinforced those beliefs, as the Australian appeared to share them.
Hutton had a superb defensive batting technique, perhaps as sound as anyone's. With a classical style he always looked good. He read a pitch better than others. When captain his more controversial selections usually proved justified.
But he was a deeply shy man and suffered acutely from stress. Laker said he was the biggest worrier he ever met. Before the third Test in Melbourne on New Year's Eve 1954 Hutton suffered a nervous breakdown and announced he was not playing. Ironically he was persuaded to change his mind by three men whose off-field excesses he despised as unprofessional: Compton, Edrich and Evans.
Hutton's inter-personal skills were often poor. On the way out to Australia in 1954 he told Peter Loader he would not be playing in any of the Tests then ignored him for the rest of the trip. Reluctant to assert himself with the bat, he stifled others' attacking instincts by ordering them to play in the same cautious manner.
When he retired Hutton was generally considered the fourth greatest English batsman after Grace, Hobbs and Hammond. Decades later some began to place him above Hammond, then Grace. Very few critics rated him as highly as Viv Richards whose capacity for altering the course of a match in a single session was on another level entirely. When the all-time World XIs of 100 ex-Test players (and one umpire) were published in 2010, Richards was chosen in 65 teams, Hutton in 21.