The Bodyline scandal helped shape the nature of cricket, sport and relations between Australia and England for years to come
As
Australian batsman Bert Oldfield collapsed, his skull fractured by a
lightning-fast ball, the booing from the 50,000-strong Adelaide Oval
crowd became a deafening howl.
The England players, mouths dry with fear, looked for escape routes - or even potential weapons - in case the mob fell on them.Bowler Harold Larwood, the focus of the fury, turned to team-mate Les Ames. "If they come," he said, "you can take the leg stump for protection - I'll take the middle."
Never before or since that moment, 80 years ago to the day, on 16 January 1933, had cricket - and arguably any other sport - seen a contest which fired such anger, which reached so far and echoed for so long, as the Bodyline tour.
Bodyline used a more aggressive but still entirely legal method of bowling
The view of the MCC, which organised the tour, is slightly different. The curator of its museum, Adam Chadwick, said: "Was Bodyline unsportsmanlike? By the standards of the day, yes. By the standards of now, it was a stroke of genius."
'Devastatingly fast' At the beginning of the 1930s, the MCC - Marylebone Cricket Club - still ruled the cricketing world from its seat at Lord's in London.
But it had a problem, in the shape of batting phenomenon Don Bradman.
During their 1930 tour of England, Australia - the arch rivals - had dominated the home bowlers, with Bradman averaging a staggering 139.14.
The MCC looked to austere amateur player Douglas Jardine for an answer, making him England captain.
Jardine believed Bradman struggled against balls which bounced into his chest and formed a tactic to exploit this. But the plan needed the right bowler, and that bowler was former Nottinghamshire miner Harold Larwood.
Duncan Hamilton, Larwood's biographer, said: "He had two things. Firstly he was incredibly accurate, he claimed never to have bowled a wide in his career, and accuracy was essential to Bodyline.
"Secondly he was devastatingly fast. All his contemporaries said he was the quickest they had faced. At certain times during that series he must have got close to, if not passed, the 100mph (160km/h) mark
Cricket genius - Larwood and Bradman duelled during Bodyline but faced very different fates in the years that followed
Jardine's plan was to use what was known in England as leg theory. Bowling fast, high-bouncing deliveries on the line of the leg stump of the wicket - where a batsman would usually stand.
The batsman had three choices: to move but risk exposing his wicket, to play the ball with his bat and face being caught by a ring of close fielders, or try to duck and risk painful blows.
The tour began in earnest at Sydney in December 1932, ironically without Bradman playing. Bodyline would bring England victory.
Complaints about the tactic quickly appeared. As the bruises and wickets mounted, the disquiet turned to anger, with claims batsmen were being physically targeted.
Bodyline introduced a previously unspoken element into Test cricket - namely the physical intimidation of the batsman.
The placement of fielders, deliberately positioned to catch the ball from batsmen protecting themselves from short, fast deliveries aimed at the ribs and throat, was entirely legal at the time, but seriously threatened the code of sportsmanship that is so central to cricket.
That said, the Australian administrators - who made such a meal of Jardine's tactic at the time - were noticeably quiet when their own fast bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson were terrifying batsmen with short-pitched bowling in the 1970s.
The authorities acted swiftly after the Bodyline tour to limit the placing of fielders in catching positions on the leg side in an attempt to deter a repeat of the tactic, and also brought in a restriction of the number of bouncers that can be bowled in a single over.
But after Lillee and Thomson, the West Indies' formidable pace attack of the late 1970s and 80s also proved that skilful, intimidatory fast bowling is every bit as effective as Bodyline, even with field restrictions and after the introduction of helmets.
Despite Australia levelling the
series at the second match in Melbourne, the constant battering of
lightly protected players attracted outraged headlines.
Some batsmen endured hours of punishment and even Bradman looked unsettled.Mr Studham said: "The tactics employed by Jardine roused intense passions, as they were so out of accord with anything that had previously happened on the cricket field.
"Targeting the bowling along the line of the batsman's body was regarded by the Australian crowds as vicious, unsporting and especially after repeatedly battering the batsmen, 'hitting a man when he was down and certainly no part of cricket'."
Police protection With everything to play for, and feelings running at fever pitch, the Adelaide match opened in front of packed stands.
Cricket bible Wisden would later call it "probably the most unpleasant Test ever played".
Australian captain Bill Woodfull was left staggering after being struck just above the heart by Larwood.
The booing lasted for three minutes, despite the fact England had not yet deployed Bodyline tactics in the match.
That would change though, moments later, when Jardine called out to Larwood: "Well bowled Harold," and set the fielders in the hated Bodyline formation. Police had to be deployed on the boundary.
The next day, Oldfield had his skull cracked and Larwood had to be escorted from the ground.
It was almost inevitable the problems would overflow from the playing field. But no-one could have predicted it would lead to three events then unthinkable in cricket.
MCC tour manager Pelham Warner, seeking to smooth relationships, was sent packing by the normally placid Woodfull with what were, for some years, the 25 most famous words in sport.
"I don't want to see you, Mr Warner. There are two teams out there. One is trying to play cricket and the other is not."
'Hysterical' reaction The comment, made in the previously sacrosanct dressing room, was leaked to the press.
The next day, Australian Board of Control for International Cricket sent a cable to the MCC which described England's tactics as "unsportsmanlike".
Mr Chadwick said: "The MCC reacted with incredulity to the Australian messages that the tactics were unsportsmanlike and they felt it was really out of the question that an MCC team led by a gentleman of Douglas Jardine's character could possibly behave in such a manner.
"The archives really do show the feeling was 'Oh, the Australians are being a bit hysterical about it'."
The Bodyline fielding positions - crowding the batsman on the leg-side in the hope of catching deflected balls - were later outlawed
Stoked by newspaper reports, each country backed its own players.
The standoff only ended when Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons told the cricket board a British boycott of Australian goods could cripple the country.
England won the series 4-1. Bradman's batting average was cut to a merely excellent 56. But the shock lasted for years.
'National disdain' Mr Studham said he felt Bodyline was one of those sporting "rite of passage" stories all Australian children learn about.
"The on-field tactics and resulting carnage at the third Test in Adelaide split already strained relations between the teams, the game's governing authorities, and even threatened to split the governments.
"While perfectly legal at the time, it left lasting ill-feeling in Australia where it was seen to be outside the spirit of the game.
"The fact that a few years later the laws of cricket were amended to ban Bodyline bowling contributed greatly to its continuing national disdain."
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
Ducan Hamilton Larwood biographerHe was totally betrayed by the establishment”
Mr Chadwick said: "The MCC did
not have any advance warning of the tactics which Jardine was using and
wasn't really aware of the impact - all they were getting was newspaper
reports and telegraph messages of the score.
"When they saw it for themselves they realised this really
wasn't the sort of cricket they had always set themselves up to promote
as containing the best values of Britishness and gentlemanly fair play."Jardine retired from first class cricket the following year. Larwood's agony was more extended.
Hated hero Injured through over-bowling, he was then stunned at his treatment by cricket's hierarchy.
Mr Hamilton said: "He was totally betrayed by the establishment. They treated him like toxic waste.
"He was asked to apologise and he rightly refused, saying he had done what his captain had asked. He got no support for his injury.
"On his return to Nottingham he was met by cheering crowds 10,000-strong. He went from that to being vilified. The whole thing was a tragedy."
Larwood never played for England again. On the advice of some of his old Bodyline foes, he emigrated to Australia in 1950 - becoming firm friends with Bert Oldfield.
He was appointed MBE in 1993, at the age of 88. A statue of him was unveiled in Kirby-in-Ashfield, close to his birthplace, in 2002.
Courtesy: BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-21013615#FBM180511
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