The Ashes: Reliving the infamous Bodyline saga

1930 was the year in which Sir Don Bradman announced himself as the best batsman in the world. He scored 974 runs in the Ashes series in England- a series aggregate that has not been toppled till date.

Bradman scored 232 of those runs at The Oval, in the final Test of the series. He was eventually dismissed by a young Nottinghamshire bowler named Harold Larwood. Then Percy Hornibrook bowled Australia to an innings victory and they regained The Ashes from England.

The 243 run partnership between Bradman and Jackson made all the difference. While the partnership was in progress, Larwood did try to bowl some short-pitch stuff at Bradman ( not Bodyline, though). The Don didn't like the balls rising to his body.

But the real takeaway for Larwood was the fact that Bradman kept drawing away from the balls that could have hit him on the body. Most of the balls got an awkward lift from the good-length spot and Bradman was not comfortable in facing them. The entire England team noticed that and they did discuss about it at the end of day's play. Thus formed the genesis for cricket's most controversial strategy. Let us relive the events surrounding the infamous episode.

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#5 Jardine's moment of epiphany

Douglas Jardine was not part of the England team for that match but, when the time came, he was shrewd enough to 'use' the discomfort Bradman found that day at The Oval to his advantage.

Jardine was born in India but got educated in Winchester College. There he developed his cricket under the experienced and watchful eyes of Harry Altham, Scofield Haigh and Rockley Wilson. Wilson was instrumental in shaping up Jardine as a superb strategist.

Extra Cover: The super villain of Test cricket - Douglas Jardine

As David Frith wrote in his superbly researched book titled Bodyline Autopsy, "As for the true genesis of Bodyline, the key moment had come some time earlier when D.R. Jardine, having watched film of the 1930 Oval Test match in the company of a gathering of MCC committeemen at Lord's, spotted Don Bradman's discomfort on the damp pitch and ejaculated, 'I've got it! He's yellow!"

#4 Larwood's in the house

Harold Larwood's lethal pace compounded Australia's woes

The much anticipated series commenced on December 2nd at Sydney. The ground was almost full by 11:45 am with only a few vacant spots available on the hill.

Bill Woodfull won the toss and chose to bat on what appeared to be a wicket on the slower side. Larwood started proceedings with four slips and one short-leg. The first four balls were on the good-length, the fifth was faster and straighter and then, in the final ball of his first over, Larwood let one go. It was fast and pitched short of good-length. It missed Woodfull's head by inches. That signaled the start of the most famous battle in cricket's history. Voce, at the other end, had no such inhibition and he started with unadulterated leg-theory, without even one fielder in the slips.

Woodfull's first attempt at hooking a bouncer led to his downfall and Fingleton, the man who replaced him, was greeted with a barrage of short-pitch stuff from Larwood. Only 30-odd runs were scored in the first hour. In Larwood's second spell, he added one fielder to the leg side but success eluded him.

After lunch Larwood moved one more fielder to the leg-side leaving only one man in the slip cordon. Ponsford's attempt to turn a good-length ball to the leg led to the cartwheeling of his leg stump. Kippax joined Fingleton but both of them didn't last long. They were mentally undone by a barrage of short-pitch stuff and, as a result, gave away their wickets to perfectly decent good-length bowling.

Vic Richardson (grandfather of the famous Chappell brothers) joined Stan McCabe and they batted gallantly against the somewhat intimidating bowling. They added 129 precious runs before Richardson was dismissed by Voce with the second new ball.

Oldfield didn't last long but Grimmett, following the wicket-keeper in the batting order, batted bravely to remain not out at the end of the first day. McCabe, meanwhile, had reached his century- one of the best in the history of Ashes cricket.

#3 McCabe's brave resistance

Stan McCabe scored a splendid century against hostile bowling in Sydney

Stan McCabe remained unbeaten on 187 as Australia were dismissed for 360. A great display of fearless and effective batting against high quality fast bowling.

Before lunch on Day 1, McCabe was watching that match from the members' enclosure. He was sitting there with his rather frightened parents. They were worried about the prospect of their son facing that kind of hostile bowling. When his turn to bat came, McCabe pacified his father and told him, " If I get hit, Dad, stop Mum from jumping the fence."

He tamed the intimidating bowling by attacking it with fearless hooks and pulls. After Richardson and Oldfield were dismissed, he only had the bowlers to give him company. He knew that they won't last long against that type of bowling. He still tried to instill confidence in them. When O'Reilly came out to bat, he walked to him and calmly told, " Don't worry about him (Larwood), he's not as fast as he looks- I'll handle him."

The first ball O'Reilly received from Larwood cannoned onto the shoulder of his bat before he could lift it properly. O'Reilly ran through to McCabe and said, " Not so bloody fast, eh? I'll say you can handle him."

The Australian presss celebrated the innings and the fact that he single-handedly lifted Australia's total to a respectable number in the absence of Bradman who didn't play because of his conflicts with the cricket board.

McCabe was a very modest person. At lunch on the rest day (after two days of play), selector 'Chappie' Dwyer remarked jokingly, " I suppose you (McCabe) have a swollen head after reading all that praise in the press." Stan's reply stunned everyone present: " But I have not read the papers. I thought there might be a lot of exaggearted praise in them. It would be better for me not to read."

#2 The Bodyline legend is born

Alan Kippax's rare book delves deep into the subject

England went on to win the Test by 10 wickets but the talking point at the end of the first Test was the tactics used by England's bowlers.

A lot of terms were used to describe the bowling of England. Arthur Mailey had already used 'shock attack' but that term was not enough to describe England's tactics in a precise manner.

The Aussies used to call this type of bowling as 'sconers' but that didn't mean there would be 7 fielders on the leg-side waiting to catch the ball once the batsman fends at it.

'Leg theory' too was not quite the correct term. Vic Richardson batted on the leg stump, then six inches and a foot outside it, but wherever he stood the ball still came at his body! The likes of Warwick Armstrong, Fred Root and Frank Foster used leg-theory to good effet but this was certainly different- the very purpose of doing it was different.

There was a similar reference in an old article by former England captain Archie MacLaren. The expression he used was 'body-bowling'. But nothing quite apt under prevailing circumstances in Sydney.

Jack Worrall, the former Test cricketer, in his article for The Australasian, used the phrase ' half-pitched slingers on the body line' but that was as close as it was to the term.

After the first day's play, Hugh Buggy included the phrase 'body-line bowling' in the copy he had sent to the Melbourne Age. Ray Robinson, the sub-editor, removed the hyphen and made it Bodyline. The rest is history.

#1 England's contentious triumph

A television mini-series titled 'Bodyline' was produced by Network Ten in 1984

In 1972, Ray Robinson wrote, "In the year 2010, I wonder, will Wesley Hall and Frank Tyson be remembered with the awe evoked by the name Harold Larwood 40 years after his bowling demoralized Australia's batting in the bodyline Tests of 1932-33? Why, it seemed to take almost that long for batsmen's nerves to settle down again!"

No one could quite have the kind of effect the miner from Nottinghamshire had, back in the 1930s. The West Indian quartet was terrifying. So were Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. But none could have the impact Larwood had on cricket post that 1932-33 Ashes series.

Cables flew between the two cricket boards and the term gained popularity. When Rockley Wilson first heard that Jardine was chosen as the captain of the series, he had said, " We shall win the series- but we may lose a dominion". Rockley knew his pupil too well. England did win the series but, by the end of the series, there were far serious issues at stake. It had its effects on the individuals involved as well.

During the infamous Adelaide Test of that series, one evening Larwood went to a local theater to watch a movie. There he overheard a small child saying to her mother, " Mummy, he doesn't look like a murderer."

The Larwood-effect was everywhere. Bill O'Reilly found that all the school teams playing at St. George Sports Ground were setting Bodyline fields for their bowlers. O'Reilly thought to himself, " Well, I'm not going to interfere. I'll let them have a go and find out how they like it."

Larwood was the most hated yet the most followed cricketer in Australia at that point. And Bodyline was the most talked about topic in the cricket world.

No other series created more controversy or more debate. The number of books written on this series is way too many but the search for the definitive account ended as late as 2002 when David Frith produced his magnum opus.

Hugh Buggy. Jack Worrall. Ray Robinson. Now it hardly matters who among these three invented the term but there is little doubt that the most talked about cricketing term was coined on December 2nd,1932.

Here are some famous books on the subject.

Bodyline Autopsy by David Frith

And Then Came Larwood by Arthur Mailey

Between Wickets by Ray Robinson

The Larwood Story by Harold Larwood and Kevin Perkins

The Vic Richardson Story by Vic Richardson and R.S. Whitington

Stan McCabe: The Man and His Cricket by Jack McHarg