In sport, we often find ourselves seeking solutions but finding few

Lindsay Ash

By Lindsay Ash

THOSE of you who follow the thump of leather on willow may have observed that our women cricketers have lost rather heavily out in Australia and there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth as to why Australia are very good and we are not and what can be done about it.

It made me think this is often the way with our sporting scene – be it football, tennis, rugby or, in this case, cricket, we find ourselves seeking solutions but finding few.

It also made me think that, in that search, few solutions could have caused an international incident, discussions at the highest political levels, a major rule change and all-round fury as the Bodyline series. If you’re not a follower of cricket then you may not be familiar with this fascinating tale that occurred in 1932 and was inspired by one man.

This was a Corinthian age when teams had “gentlemen and players”, that is to say participants were either “gentlemen” (ie amateur) or “players”, who were professional. They even had separate dressing rooms. It was still very much the era of “it’s not the winning that matters but the way you play the game”. But things were about to change rather dramatically.

One man who deserves a mention is an Australian called Donald Bradman, who was and, indeed, remains to this day, a phenomenon. In cricket to average over 50 in Test matches puts you in the pantheon of the great players. Bradman averaged 99 by the time he retired, more than 40 runs clear of anyone else and that still stands. The Australians had toured England in 1930, when they had triumphed 2-1 with The Don (as he was known long before Trump!) scoring 974 runs at an average of 139.

It was obvious that if England were to have any chance of winning Down Under they had to find a way of stopping Bradman at all costs or they had no chance. Now obviously this might have to go against the “way you play the game” morals of many of the “gentlemen” who played at the time… so was the plan dreamt up by a “player”, part of the new breed who played for money and thought that winning was all? Well, actually, while that would be the obvious thought process it would be wrong.

It was dreamt up by one Douglas Jardine, a man educated at Winchester and Oxford who was very much in the ranks of the “gentlemen”. He devised a plan that went as follows: instead of bowling at the stumps, you would bowl at the body and head of the batsmen. Now this was in the days before helmets and protection and, of course, was highly dangerous. It basically meant the batsmen could either let the deliveries hit them (not a good idea and not really put into practice until Brian Close in 1978) fend them off or hook it; the latter two options were made more problematic by having fielders all placed on the leg side (behind the batsmen) to catch the ball and dismiss whoever had hit it.

So, armed with this plan, England selected three very fast bowlers to implement it. Among them was a “player”, Harold Larwood, a Nottinghamshire miner who was to play a major role.

England are never popular with Australians but Jardine was even less so. He insisted on wearing a Harlequins cap, giving the Aussie crowd plenty of ammo for comments such as “is your Butler going to carry your bat out”. Jardine had observed that “Australians are uneducated and an unruly mob” and when told by Patsy Hendren that the crowds didn’t much care for him Jardine replied: “It’s ****ing mutual.”

And so to the cricket. England won the first Test match easily but Bradman wasn’t playing, Larwood was particularly successful, taking ten wickets, and one of the English bowlers, Gubby Allen, refused to bowl bodyline and the first rumblings of discontent at the tactic began to be heard from the Aussies. In the second Test Bradman was out first ball but then scored 100 as Australia squared the series. This was the calm before the storm.

It was the third Test match where things began to boil over. Larwood came steaming in to Bill Woodfull, the Australian captain, with one ball narrowly missing his head before another hit him under the heart, sending him slumped to the ground. Things were not helped by Jardine shouting: “Well bowled, Harold.” Woodfull batted on, being hit a number of times before being dismissed. The crowd were incensed and on the brink of a riot. The England manager, Pelham Warner, went to see Woodfull in the dressing room and was told: “I don’t want to see you Mr Warner. There are two teams out there, one is trying to play cricket the other is not … this game is too good to be spoilt. It’s time some people got out of it.”

The following day another Australian was injured and forced to leave the field and a cable was sent to the MCC stating that unless the tactic was “stopped at once [it was] likely to upset friendly relations between Australia and England”. A reply came back stating that the MCC had complete confidence that “the captain players and management would do nothing to infringe the laws or spirit of the game”.

However, things escalated beyond the cricket authorities and the Governor of South Australia (in England at the time) expressed his view to the Secretary of State that this would cause a major impact on trade between the two countries. In fact, the threat of abandoning the series was made and it was only when the Australian Prime Minister met the Australian Cricket Board and explained that if the British boycotted Australian goods the economic repercussions to Australia would be severe that the threat was withdrawn.

So the series was played to its conclusion, with England winning 4-1.

However, the fallout continued and the rules of the game were changed, limiting how many fielders could be placed on the leg side, making it far less likely to get a batsmen dismissed.

Harold Larwood was asked to sign an apology by the MCC. He rightly refused, saying he was merely doing what the captain had instructed and if there was any blame it lay with the captain. He never played for England again and ironically emigrated to Australia after the Second World War, where he was warmly received. He was awarded an MBE in 1993 and died in 1995, aged 91.

Douglas Jardine served in the war with the Royal Berkshire Regiment where he was evacuated from Dunkirk. He died in Switzerland in 1958 where he had gone to be treated for lung cancer.

Bradman finished his career on the 1948 tour to England, where he was described as, next to Churchill, “the most celebrated man in England”. He was knighted in 1949 and, until his death in 2001, was known as “the greatest living Australian”.

  • Lindsay Ash was Deputy for St Clement between 2018 and 2022, serving as Assistant Treasury and Home Affairs Minister under Chief Minister John Le Fondré. He worked in the City of London for 15 years as a futures broker before moving to Jersey and working in the Island’s finance industry from 2000.

Feedback welcome on Twitter @Getonthelash2

– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –