Bodyline: the 1932-33 Ashes and what followed.

How this page is sourced

The official record of Bodyline is the correspondence between the Australian Board of Control and the MCC. We have not read the original text of those cables. Catalogue entries we saw only as search summaries suggest the papers survive in the MCC Archive at Lord's and, on microfilm from the papers of the Governor of South Australia, Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven, at the National Library of Australia. What follows comes from the MCC's own history pages and from the historian Martin Williamson's account for ESPNcricinfo (11 August 2007), and the cables are described in his words, paraphrased.

Why it began

The MCC's history says that by the end of the 1930 summer, after Don Bradman's tour of England, getting Bradman out had become English cricket's most pressing problem, and that Bodyline was England's answer when the sides next met. The MCC records that Bradman scored 254 at Lord's in 1930 and 974 runs in the series, which it describes as a Test series record.

The MCC's honours board entry for Frank Foster calls him one of the pioneers of leg-theory bowling and says England's captain, Douglas Jardine, consulted him before the tour. Williamson describes Bodyline as a plan, made mainly to counter Bradman, of fast bowling aimed at the batter's body with a packed leg-side field, with Harold Larwood of Nottinghamshire as the main fast bowler. Williamson also passes on a story that the plan was hatched in 1931 after players saw Bradman flinch when hit on the body; he gives it as a story, not a documented fact.

The series, 1932-33

England took the series 4-1 and regained the Ashes. The MCG timeline records Melbourne as Australia's only win of the series. Williamson says Gubby Allen, an England fast bowler on the tour, refused to bowl Bodyline, and that Larwood finished with 33 wickets; the fifth Test was his last.

Adelaide

Williamson records that in the Adelaide Test Larwood struck Australia's captain, Bill Woodfull, over the heart, and hit Bert Oldfield on the head, fracturing his skull. He notes that neither blow came while the Bodyline field was set. He also cites Wisden's verdict that Adelaide was probably the most unpleasant Test ever played.

The cables

Williamson's account of the exchange, in summary:

• 18 January 1933, the fourth day at Adelaide. The Australian Board of Control cabled the MCC that Bodyline was threatening the best interests of the game, causing bitter feeling and injury, was in its view unsportsmanlike, and could upset relations between Australia and England unless it stopped.
• The MCC's reply. The MCC said it deplored the cable, rejected the charge of unsportsmanlike play, and had full confidence in its captain, team and managers. It said it would consider any new Law or rule the Board proposed and, with great reluctance, would agree to call off the rest of the tour if the Board wished.

Williamson says the matter reached cabinet level in London and was taken seriously by both governments; we did not see any government record of this, so it is unconfirmed.

After the tour

Williamson writes that when the team returned the MCC called Jardine, the tour managers Pelham Warner and R.C.N. Palairet, Larwood and Bill Voce to Lord's, and that Warner was the only member of the touring party to criticise the tactics. In England in 1933 the West Indians Learie Constantine and Manny Martindale bowled in a similar way at Old Trafford, and E.W. Clark replied in kind. The MCC records that the same summer, with both sides bowling a lot of short-pitched balls, Patsy Hendren wore protective headgear, which is part of the helmet story.

Williamson says that at the end of the 1933 season the MCC passed a resolution that bowling aimed directly at the batter was against the spirit of the game; the county captains accepted it and the Imperial Cricket Conference ratified it. In 1934 Nottinghamshire were censured for bowling Bodyline in some matches.

The Laws that followed

Williamson says the MCC added an unfair-play clause to the Laws and later limited the number of fielders behind square on the leg side to two, which made Bodyline unworkable.

When did the two-fielder limit arrive?

The date is disputed and was not confirmed from an MCC source. One secondary account, Wikipedia's article on fielding, dates the change to 1957; an ESPNcricinfo article dates a new clause in what was then Law 44 to 1960. We saw both only as search summaries.

By the 1980 Code the limit was in the Laws: Law 41.2 of that Code, "Limitation of On-Side Fieldsmen", allowed no more than two on-side fielders behind the popping crease at the moment of delivery, with the striker's end umpire calling No ball for a breach. The current Laws, the 2017 Code 4th Edition (2026), keep it as Law 28.4: no more than two fielders, apart from the wicket-keeper, may be behind the popping crease on the on side when the ball is delivered. Law 41.6.1 of the same edition treats short-pitched bowling as dangerous if, given the striker's skill, its speed, length, height and direction make injury likely, and tells umpires to disregard the striker's protective equipment in judging that.

The limit still bites. Wisden reported on 24 September 2024 that England conceded a No ball for having three fielders behind square on the leg side in the third ODI against Australia at Durham, and linked the rule at least partly to Jardine's tactics.