It
was in June 1930 during the Australian tour of
England, that the Australians first came across
Bodyline although not at first hand. During a
county match against Nottinghamshire and Somerset,
Voce delivered short-pitched bowling, aimed at
the body of his opponents. During that match,
'Case' attempting to avoid being hit by a rising
ball, lost his wicket, bowled by Voce. Such was
his disorientation from the battering received,
that he returned to the pavilion with one of the
stumps and not his bat!. Although not yet known
as Bodyline, for all intents and purposes it was
fast leg Theory. This match had the ingredients
of Bodyline, short pitched bowling aimed at the
body of the batsman and the attempt to avoid being
hit by the ball. It was two years later that it
became a reality for the home side.
During
Bodyline in 1932 - 33, the MCC cabled the Australian
Board of Control in defence of their tactics,
saying that Leg theory had been in operation for
many years. However it fell on deaf ears to all
that actually witnessed the events first hand.
The only similarity between Leg Theory and Bodyline
were that both theories saw the ball being bowled
towards the batsman's leg side and that the field
was packed on the leg side. Even though both theories
had a packed leg side, there was a big difference
in the two - Bodyline saw many fielders all in
a circle placed very close on the leg side, whereas
ordinary leg theory had it's fielders distributed
evenly on the leg side.
Harold
Larwood was the perfect choice for Bodyline -
he was quick, very quick, and incredibly accurate.
He was able to pitch the ball just about anywhere
he wanted and because of this and his pace he
was the obvious weapon. Because Bodyline bowling
relied on balls pitched short to rise to the batsman's
ribs or head, it was a necessity that the bowler
be fast. If they weren't, then a short-pitched
delivery slowly rising towards the batsman would
easily be dispatched to the vacant deep leg side.
In
an attempt to defend Jardine's tactics during
the series, critics said that Gregory and McDonald
his batsman after batsman during the 1921 series.
There was a major problem with this argument however
- although they bowled at the body, they were
legitimate short pitched balls and not to a packed
leg field. Therefore the bowling adopted by Voce
and his county side was Bodyline minus the name.
During the same tour, the Australian's met Voce
and Nottinghamshire in a first class match and
such was the fear within the Australian camp regarding
Voce, they decided to try and hit him out of Test
contention. Richardson and McCabe were the two
elected for this job, the harder Voce bowled,
the harder the Australian's hit him to the boundary.
Bradman
was caught up in controversy during the final
test at the Oval in 1930 and according to legend;
Jardine decided Bodyline was the weapon to counteract
Bradman's superiority on their next tour to Australia
in 1932. This came about during a wet days play
when Bradman and Jackson were in total control.
The rain came and no one thought more play was
possible. However the umpires thought otherwise
and declared that 1 over was possible at 6:25pm
that day. The Australian's batsmen furious with
this decision, stormed out to the middle to take
up their ends. Larwood was the bowler and on a
wet wicket he was lethal. Although no wicket fell
in this over it was the first sight during that
summer that the unbeatable Bradman showed any
weakness - his dislike to batting on a wet wicket,
his flinching at the unknown factor. Many people
throughout and after his career brought this question
up many times.
In
Jardine's eyes, Bodyline was born at the Oval
in 1930. It's sole objective was to destroy Don
Bradman. There were hard times ahead for Jardine
and little did he know how events would unfold
in the next couple of years.
During
the South African tour of Australia in 1931/2
Bradman received a bouncer at his body from South
African fast bowler Bell. Bradman didn't expect
the short-pitched ball and the surprise on his
face from the delivery was there for all to see.
Bell returned to the pavilion with only one thought
in mind. To try Bradman out with short pitched
deliveries in the final Test at Melbourne. Unfortunately
for Bell, Bradman slipped and hurt his ankle and
was unavailable to bat, South Africa lost within
two days and Bradman was not required at the crease.
Jardine was unaware of this incident, if he had
been, it would have surely cemented his ideas
for Bodyline. |
