Bodyline: The 1932-33 Series That Forced Cricket to Change Its Laws

When Don Bradman walked out to bat in Australia, he was not so much a player as a force of nature. In 1930, in England, he had scored 974 runs in a five-Test series, a record that still stands. For England's captain Douglas Jardine, the problem was clear: a way had to be found to stop him. The answer he devised would nearly sever the sporting relationship between two countries.

Jardine's plan

Jardine was a proud, severe amateur, a Winchester and Oxford man who had little affection for Australians and none for their crowds. He studied Bradman's technique and concluded that the champion was uneasy against fast, short-pitched balls that rose towards the body, particularly when they were bowled with a leg-side field.

The method was known as leg theory in England and Bodyline in Australia. A fast bowler would aim the ball at the batsman's body, short of a length, and the batsman, trying to protect himself, would fend the ball towards a ring of close fielders on the leg side. Several fielders were placed close in, and others deep for the hook shot.

The weapons: Larwood and Voce

The tactic required a bowler of exceptional pace and accuracy, and England had one in Harold Larwood, a Nottinghamshire miner's son who bowled with remarkable speed and control. His county colleague Bill Voce supported him from the other end, and the pair, along with the Nottinghamshire captain Arthur Carr, had experimented with leg theory in the county game.

Larwood was fast and straight, and could hit a batsman on the ribs or shoulder repeatedly, over after over. It was effective, but it was also dangerous, because batsmen at the time wore very little protection, with no helmets and only basic pads and gloves.

A series turns sour

England won the first Test in Sydney, with Bradman absent through illness and Larwood bowling with fearsome pace, though the full leg-theory approach was not yet used throughout. In Melbourne, Bradman was dismissed for a duck in the first innings but returned with a brilliant unbeaten century to help Australia win the second Test and level the series. Jardine saw that Bradman could still dominate, and he turned the screw.

At Adelaide in the third Test, the series reached breaking point. Bill Woodfull, the Australian captain, was struck over the heart by a ball from Larwood, and the crowd began to jeer. The next day, the wicketkeeper Bert Oldfield was hit on the head, suffering a fractured skull, although he had been trying to hook a ball that was not part of a leg-theory field. Spectators were close to rioting.

The Australian Board of Control sent a cable to the MCC in London complaining that the bowling was unsportsmanlike and threatening the game. The MCC replied indignantly, rejecting the charge and hinting that the remainder of the tour might be in doubt if the accusation stood. The exchange was tense, and politicians in both countries became involved because of fears for trade and relations between the two nations.

The results

England won the series 4-1, and Bradman averaged 56.57, a remarkable figure for anyone else but well below his usual average of around 100. Larwood took 33 wickets. By the cold arithmetic of the scoreboard, Jardine's plan had worked.

It had, however, come at a high cost. Australian crowds booed and England's players were bitterly criticised. Larwood, who had done as his captain asked, was later treated as a scapegoat, and he never played for England again. He later emigrated to Australia, where he lived for the rest of his life and was received with respect.

How the laws changed

The MCC's initial instinct was to defend its team, but the controversy did not go away, and in the following months the club's committee reached the conclusion that something had to be done. By 1934 the MCC had made clear that bowling directed at the batsman with the intention of intimidating him was unfair and against the spirit of the game, and the law on dangerous bowling was strengthened.

Over the longer term, further changes followed. The laws on fielding on the leg side were later amended to limit the number of fielders allowed behind square on that side, and later still the number of short-pitched balls per over was restricted. These rules are the direct descendants of the argument that raged in 1933.

Why it still matters

Bodyline is often described as the most controversial series in cricket history. Its legacy is a lasting debate about the difference between what is permitted by the rules and what is considered fair, and about the responsibility of captains to the spirit of the game.

It also shows how cricket governs itself. The sport responded to an extreme tactic not by banning a single bowler but by rewriting its laws so that no one could use the method again.

The wider fallout

Bodyline became an affair of state. In Australia, the tour was discussed in newspapers and in political circles as a question of national honour. In England, many supporters initially defended Jardine on the grounds that the tactics were legal and that fast bowling was a legitimate part of the game. Others, including senior figures at Lord's, were uneasy about what the sport was becoming.

The debate reached a wider audience than any cricket series before it. People who had never watched a Test had opinions about Larwood and Jardine, and the subject became a touchstone for discussions of sportsmanship, loyalty and what it means to play within the spirit of a game as well as its letter.

It is worth remembering, too, that the protective equipment of the day was minimal. Modern helmets, arm guards and chest pads give batsmen a safety net that Woodfull, Oldfield and their contemporaries could only imagine. When we judge the controversy today, we should recall how real the physical risk was.