The next step was for the Control Board to send a cable to Lords, however they were reluctant to do so as it would be deemed an official complaint. Therefore it was decided that they would draft a cable and ask the Australian captain and Don Bradman to sign it, thereby making it an unofficial protest (as it had not come directly from the Board). Woodfull and Bradman were called in and the board read them the cable. The meeting then took a turn for the worst as one of the members asked if they would be prepared to sign the cable. It was at this point that Woodfull told the board that he would resign as captain and that he had the full unconditional backing of his team. The control board backed down and agreed to send the following cable to the MCC Lords:

Bodyline 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 un-sportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once it is likely to upset the friendly relations existing between Australia and England.

Signed the Australian Board of Control

The MCC were not impressed by the term un-sportsmanlike and decided to enlist the help of the Palace who intern placed a call to Ernest Crutchley (head of the British Mission) who was based in Australia to speak with the Prime Minister. The MCC decided to reply to the Australian Board of Control by cable and offered to call the rest of the series off. They had no intentions of doing so and were simply trying to gain the upper hand by threatening the Australian Board knowing full well that they would have to back down. The Australian Prime Minister then spoke to the Australian Board, letting them know that he had spoken to a representative of the British Government and had been assured that Jardine would be asked to curb Bodyline. He also said to Dr Roberts (ABC) that he fully realised that they were in a difficult position and that the cancellation of the tour would have serious consequences far above those of cricket (trade and industry) and that it was imperative that the series continue.

The inevitable outcome was that Australia drafted a reply cable to Lords telling them that they so no reason to cancel the tour. Jardine was resolute however and he and tour manager Warner once again had words regarding the tempering of Bodyline and yet again Jardine refused to back down. This was the cable sent to Lords by the ABC:

We the Australian Board of Control appreciate your difficulty in dealing with the matter raised in our cable without having seen the actual play. We unanimously regard Bodyline bowling as adopted in some games of the present tour, as being opposed to the spirit of cricket and unnecessarily dangerous to players. We are deeply concerned that the ideals of the game shall be protected and therefore appoint a sub committee to report on action necessary to eliminate such bowling from all cricket in Australia from the beginning of next season. Will forward copy of committees recommendations for your consideration and hope for co-operation in application to all cricket. We do not consider it necessary to cancel the remainder of the programme.

This was the not the end of the matter as Douglas Jardine was once again unhappy.

He was not happy that they did not take back the word un-sportsmanlike and refused to continue unless the word was retracted. As relations were strained between Jardine and Warner the England captain found no comfort from the Manager and decided to call an emergency meeting with his team mates. He offered his resignation as captain and from the team if the other players didn’t agree with him. To no surprise the whole team offered their backing to Jardine. It was Wyatt who then spoke up and warned Warner that unless the Australian Board of Control retracted the word then the England team would not be meeting their train for the 4th Test.

The headline in the Australian papers the following morning read:

English Test Ultimatum – No Withdraw, No play

Both teams were due to travel together to Brisbane on the same train and it was only at the 11th hour that the English team were told that a cable was to be sent to Lords retracting the word un-sportsmanlike. News slowly filtered through to Woodfull that the Australian Board of Control had retracted the word. There was a meeting between the senior players and yet again threats of resigning from the team were top of the list. However it was Richardson who spoke of the Australian courage and the fact that it would be worse to be seen as quitters rather than the men who stood up to Bodyline (even if they would inevitably loose). The fourth test in Brisbane would go on.

Back to First Page Back to Second Page