Herbie Ironmonger was a medium paced bowler who could spin the ball from leg on all types of pitches with annoying regularity - for the batsmen that is ! After loosing the top of his forefinger in an accident at work, it enabled him to disguise his action and wrist spin the ball, making the delivery come out as a leg break but look like a chinaman. He never toured England because of the doubts raised over the legality over his action.

When he made his debut at Brisbane in 1928/9 against England, he was the second oldest player to make his debut in Test cricket at 46 years and 237 days old. Ironmonger is still the 4th oldest today. He struggled on the pitch and took 4 wickets conceding 164 runs, but when he played against South Africa in 1931, he was unplayable. The pitch was soft, helping him to take 11 wickets in the match, 5 in the first and 6 in the second. 'Dainty' took 31 wickets in the series costing only 9.67 following a successful series against the West Indies in 1930/1, where he took 22 wickets at 14.68 runs a piece. It was in this series that he produced his best bowling taking 7 for 23 in 20 overs.

Not known as a batsman it has been written that his wife phoned during a match at Melbourne, and when told that her husband had just left to bat, she reportedly said 'That's alright, I'll hang on !!!' He toured New Zealand and India and in 1932/33 (Bodyline) he became the only Australian player to play Test cricket past the age of 50.