The Ashes: Reliving the infamous Bodyline saga

#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.