The introduction of 'Bodyline' in the 1932–33 Ashes series is the most controversial event in the history of Australian-English Test cricket.
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman. England's use of a tactic perceived by some as overly aggressive or even unfair ultimately threatened diplomatic relations between the two countries before the situation was calmed.
The 1932-33 Ashes Series: The Bodyline Series. The English team for the opening match of the tour, against Western Australia in Perth.
Back row: Eddie Paynter, Les Ames, Hedley Verity, Bill Bowes, Brown, Tommy Mitchell, Harold Larwood.
Front row: The Nawab of Patudi, Wyatt, Douglas Jardine, Herbert Sutcliffe, Leyland, October 1932 (picture by Fairfax Media)
A bodyline delivery was one where the cricket ball was bowled at fast speed directly at the body of the batsman, in the hope that when he defended himself with his bat, a resulting deflection could be caught by one of several fielders standing close by. This was considered by critics to be intimidatory and physically threatening, to the point of being unfair in a game that was supposed to uphold gentlemanly traditions.
Although no serious injuries arose from any short-pitched deliveries while a leg theory field was actually set, the tactic still led to considerable ill feeling between the two teams, particularly when Australian batsmen suffered actual injuries in separate incidents, which inflamed the watching crowds. The controversy eventually spilled into the diplomatic arena.
How it started..
The Australian cricket team toured England in 1930. Australia won the five-Test series 2–1, with Don Bradman scoring 974 runs at a batting average of 139.14, an aggregate record that still stands. By the time of the next Ashes series of 1932–33, Bradman's average hovered around 100, approximately twice that of all other world-class batsmen of the time.
England feared that without resorting to drastic tactics, they might not be able to defeat Australia until Bradman—then aged 24—retired, something that might be over a decade away. It was believed that something new was required to combat Bradman.
Australian Cricket Legend Donald Bradman is considered to be the greatest batsman who played the sport.
The idea of bodyline had originated in the Oval Test of the 1930 Ashes series. While Bradman was batting, the wicket became briefly difficult following rain. Bradman appeared to be uncomfortable facing deliveries which bounced higher than usual at a faster pace, being seen to step back out of the line of the ball. Former England player and Surrey captain Percy Fender noticed this, and the incident was much discussed by cricketers. However, given that Bradman scored 232, it was not thought that a way to curb his prodigious scoring had been found. When future captain Douglas Jardine later saw film footage of the Oval incident and noticed Bradman's discomfort, he shouted...
"I've got it! He's yellow!"
English cricket captain Douglas Jardine said of Donald Bradman "I've got it! He's yellow!"
Further details adding to the plan came from letters Fender received from Australia in 1932, which described how Australian batsmen were increasingly moving across the stumps towards the off side to play the ball on the on side. Fender showed these letters to Jardine when it became clear that he was to captain MCC in Australia during the 1932–33 tour, and he discussed Bradman's discomfort at the Oval.
It was also known in England that Bradman looked very uncomfortable before he was dismissed for a four-ball duck by fast bowler Eddie Gilbert. Bradman had also appeared uncomfortable against the pace of Sandy Bell in his innings of 299 not out at the Adelaide Oval in South Africa's tour of Australia earlier in 1932 when the somewhat desperate Bell decided to bowl short to him. As such, Fender felt Bradman might be vulnerable to fast, short-pitched deliveries on the line of leg stump. Jardine also felt that Bradman was afraid to stand his ground against intimidatory bowling.
When Jardine was appointed England's captain for the 1932–33 English tour of Australia, a meeting was arranged with Nottinghamshire captain Arthur Carr and his two fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce at London's Piccadilly Hotel to discuss a plan to combat Bradman's extraordinary skills.
Jardine explained his belief that Bradman was weak against bowling directed at leg stump and that if this line of attack could be maintained, it would restrict Bradman's scoring to one side of the field, giving the bowlers greater control of his scoring. Jardine asked Larwood and Voce if they could bowl accurately on leg stump and make the ball rise up into the body of the batsman. The bowlers agreed that they could, and that it might prove effective, but Jardine stressed that bowling accurately was vitally important, or Bradman would dominate the bowling. Larwood believed that Jardine saw Bradman as his main target and wished to attack him psychologically as well as in a cricketing sense.
Bodyline was born!
Harold Larwood, born November 14, 1904, was perhaps the most feared and hated bowler in Australia
The Bodyline Controversy
A key aspect of Australia's frustration was that the English tactics seemed to go against all that was valued in cricket: fair play, ethical conduct and a shared cultural understanding of behaviour. In response to the danger faced by the players, the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket sent a tersely worded telegram to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on 18 January 1933:
Body-line bowling has assumed such proportions as to menace the best interests of the game, making protection of the body by the batsmen the main consideration.
This is causing intensely bitter feeling between the players as well as injury. In our opinion it is unsportsmanlike.
Unless stopped at once it is likely to upset the friendly relations existing between Australia and England.
Facing a cricket ball from a bodyline delivery can be dangerous.
The English administrators did not appreciate their players being accused of unsportsmanlike conduct. Not having witnessed the barrage of body blows, they felt that the Australian side was making excuses. The MCC responded sternly on 23 January:
We, Marylebone Cricket Club, deplore your cable. We deprecate your opinion that there has been unsportsmanlike play…
We hope the situation is not now as serious as your cable would seem to indicate, but if it is such as to jeopardize the good relations between English and Australian cricketers and you consider it desirable to cancel remainder of programme we would consent, but with great reluctance.
For a while it seemed that cricket would strain diplomatic relations between Australia and England. After intervention from the Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, the Australian Board of Control withdrew its charge of unsportsmanlike behaviour and the final tests were played.
England won the series 4–1 and reclaimed the Ashes.
193-33 Bodyline series cricket showing Wally Hammond, Stan McCabe, Douglas Jardine, Harold Larwood & Don Bradman
The impact of England’s Bodyline tactics extended beyond the cricket pitch. Struggling with ongoing hardship during the Depression, Australians saw the aggressive tactics of the English team as representative of England’s wider attitude to the country.
While riots and diplomatic rows were averted, the series challenged not only a shared understanding of cricket but tested Australia’s changing relationship with England and Empire.
When all's said and done...
Short-pitched bowling continues to be permitted in cricket, even when aimed at the batsman. However, over time, several of the Laws of Cricket were changed to render the bodyline tactic less effective.
To this day, the bodyline tour remains one of the most significant events in the history of cricket, and strong in the consciousness of many cricket followers. In a poll of cricket journalists, commentators, and players in 2004, the bodyline tour was ranked the most important event in cricket history.
Bodyline Spawns a TV series
In 1984, Australia's Network Ten produced a television mini-series titled Bodyline, dramatising the events of the 1932–33 English tour of Australia. It starred Gary Sweet as Don Bradman and Hugo Weaving as Douglas Jardine, The series took some liberties with historical accuracy for the sake of drama, including a depiction of angry Australian fans burning a British flag at the Sydney Cricket Ground, an event which was never documented. English fast bowler Harold Larwood, having emigrated to Australia in 1950, received several threatening and obscene phone calls after the series aired. The series was widely and strongly attacked by the surviving players for its inaccuracy and sensationalism.
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Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman. England's use of a tactic perceived by some as overly aggressive or even unfair ultimately threatened diplomatic relations between the two countries before the situation was calmed.
The 1932-33 Ashes Series: The Bodyline Series. The English team for the opening match of the tour, against Western Australia in Perth.
Back row: Eddie Paynter, Les Ames, Hedley Verity, Bill Bowes, Brown, Tommy Mitchell, Harold Larwood.
Front row: The Nawab of Patudi, Wyatt, Douglas Jardine, Herbert Sutcliffe, Leyland, October 1932 (picture by Fairfax Media)
A bodyline delivery was one where the cricket ball was bowled at fast speed directly at the body of the batsman, in the hope that when he defended himself with his bat, a resulting deflection could be caught by one of several fielders standing close by. This was considered by critics to be intimidatory and physically threatening, to the point of being unfair in a game that was supposed to uphold gentlemanly traditions.
Although no serious injuries arose from any short-pitched deliveries while a leg theory field was actually set, the tactic still led to considerable ill feeling between the two teams, particularly when Australian batsmen suffered actual injuries in separate incidents, which inflamed the watching crowds. The controversy eventually spilled into the diplomatic arena.
How it started..
The Australian cricket team toured England in 1930. Australia won the five-Test series 2–1, with Don Bradman scoring 974 runs at a batting average of 139.14, an aggregate record that still stands. By the time of the next Ashes series of 1932–33, Bradman's average hovered around 100, approximately twice that of all other world-class batsmen of the time.
England feared that without resorting to drastic tactics, they might not be able to defeat Australia until Bradman—then aged 24—retired, something that might be over a decade away. It was believed that something new was required to combat Bradman.
Australian Cricket Legend Donald Bradman is considered to be the greatest batsman who played the sport.
The idea of bodyline had originated in the Oval Test of the 1930 Ashes series. While Bradman was batting, the wicket became briefly difficult following rain. Bradman appeared to be uncomfortable facing deliveries which bounced higher than usual at a faster pace, being seen to step back out of the line of the ball. Former England player and Surrey captain Percy Fender noticed this, and the incident was much discussed by cricketers. However, given that Bradman scored 232, it was not thought that a way to curb his prodigious scoring had been found. When future captain Douglas Jardine later saw film footage of the Oval incident and noticed Bradman's discomfort, he shouted...
"I've got it! He's yellow!"
English cricket captain Douglas Jardine said of Donald Bradman "I've got it! He's yellow!"
Further details adding to the plan came from letters Fender received from Australia in 1932, which described how Australian batsmen were increasingly moving across the stumps towards the off side to play the ball on the on side. Fender showed these letters to Jardine when it became clear that he was to captain MCC in Australia during the 1932–33 tour, and he discussed Bradman's discomfort at the Oval.
It was also known in England that Bradman looked very uncomfortable before he was dismissed for a four-ball duck by fast bowler Eddie Gilbert. Bradman had also appeared uncomfortable against the pace of Sandy Bell in his innings of 299 not out at the Adelaide Oval in South Africa's tour of Australia earlier in 1932 when the somewhat desperate Bell decided to bowl short to him. As such, Fender felt Bradman might be vulnerable to fast, short-pitched deliveries on the line of leg stump. Jardine also felt that Bradman was afraid to stand his ground against intimidatory bowling.
When Jardine was appointed England's captain for the 1932–33 English tour of Australia, a meeting was arranged with Nottinghamshire captain Arthur Carr and his two fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce at London's Piccadilly Hotel to discuss a plan to combat Bradman's extraordinary skills.
Jardine explained his belief that Bradman was weak against bowling directed at leg stump and that if this line of attack could be maintained, it would restrict Bradman's scoring to one side of the field, giving the bowlers greater control of his scoring. Jardine asked Larwood and Voce if they could bowl accurately on leg stump and make the ball rise up into the body of the batsman. The bowlers agreed that they could, and that it might prove effective, but Jardine stressed that bowling accurately was vitally important, or Bradman would dominate the bowling. Larwood believed that Jardine saw Bradman as his main target and wished to attack him psychologically as well as in a cricketing sense.
Bodyline was born!
Harold Larwood, born November 14, 1904, was perhaps the most feared and hated bowler in Australia
The Bodyline Controversy
A key aspect of Australia's frustration was that the English tactics seemed to go against all that was valued in cricket: fair play, ethical conduct and a shared cultural understanding of behaviour. In response to the danger faced by the players, the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket sent a tersely worded telegram to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on 18 January 1933:
Body-line bowling has assumed such proportions as to menace the best interests of the game, making protection of the body by the batsmen the main consideration.
This is causing intensely bitter feeling between the players as well as injury. In our opinion it is unsportsmanlike.
Unless stopped at once it is likely to upset the friendly relations existing between Australia and England.
Facing a cricket ball from a bodyline delivery can be dangerous.
The English administrators did not appreciate their players being accused of unsportsmanlike conduct. Not having witnessed the barrage of body blows, they felt that the Australian side was making excuses. The MCC responded sternly on 23 January:
We, Marylebone Cricket Club, deplore your cable. We deprecate your opinion that there has been unsportsmanlike play…
We hope the situation is not now as serious as your cable would seem to indicate, but if it is such as to jeopardize the good relations between English and Australian cricketers and you consider it desirable to cancel remainder of programme we would consent, but with great reluctance.
For a while it seemed that cricket would strain diplomatic relations between Australia and England. After intervention from the Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, the Australian Board of Control withdrew its charge of unsportsmanlike behaviour and the final tests were played.
England won the series 4–1 and reclaimed the Ashes.
193-33 Bodyline series cricket showing Wally Hammond, Stan McCabe, Douglas Jardine, Harold Larwood & Don Bradman
The impact of England’s Bodyline tactics extended beyond the cricket pitch. Struggling with ongoing hardship during the Depression, Australians saw the aggressive tactics of the English team as representative of England’s wider attitude to the country.
While riots and diplomatic rows were averted, the series challenged not only a shared understanding of cricket but tested Australia’s changing relationship with England and Empire.
When all's said and done...
Short-pitched bowling continues to be permitted in cricket, even when aimed at the batsman. However, over time, several of the Laws of Cricket were changed to render the bodyline tactic less effective.
To this day, the bodyline tour remains one of the most significant events in the history of cricket, and strong in the consciousness of many cricket followers. In a poll of cricket journalists, commentators, and players in 2004, the bodyline tour was ranked the most important event in cricket history.
Bodyline Spawns a TV series
In 1984, Australia's Network Ten produced a television mini-series titled Bodyline, dramatising the events of the 1932–33 English tour of Australia. It starred Gary Sweet as Don Bradman and Hugo Weaving as Douglas Jardine, The series took some liberties with historical accuracy for the sake of drama, including a depiction of angry Australian fans burning a British flag at the Sydney Cricket Ground, an event which was never documented. English fast bowler Harold Larwood, having emigrated to Australia in 1950, received several threatening and obscene phone calls after the series aired. The series was widely and strongly attacked by the surviving players for its inaccuracy and sensationalism.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyline
http://www.nma.gov.au/online_features/defining_moments/featured/bodyline
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086672/
https://alchetron.com/Douglas-Jardine-1321234-W
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