From the archives: the Bodyline series

Although bodyline bowling had been designed to blunt the effectiveness of Don Bradman, there is no denying which Australian was hurt more by it, both physically and mentally. It was Bill Woodfull, the captain, who was struck above the heart in the third Test in Adelaide, sparking near riots. He had received a similar blow on the body by a ball from Harold Larwood in a warm-up match in Melbourne.

After the 1932-33 Ashes series, the Australian Broadcasting Commission published a booklet called Cricket Casualties, which tried to list the times when batsmen had been injured by the ball in the 56 years of Test cricket between England and Australia. Woodfull, by some distance, was the most bruised Australian, hit, it was estimated, 11 times by England bowlers. However, 18 hits were believed to have been landed on Herbert Sutcliffe, England’s opening batsman, by Australia’s bowlers, showing that aggressive bowling was not the sole preserve of England. Larwood was credited with 34 hits on Australians, a figure he always disputed, claiming it was too low.

It is the suited figure of Woodfull, a schoolmaster, who can be seen on newsreel scurrying out of the pavilion in anger after Bert Oldfield, his wicket-keeper, was also hit by Larwood two days later. “There are two sides out there. One is trying to play cricket, the other is not,” was Woodfull’s damning verdict on England’s tactics.

That Woodfull made 73 not out in Australia’s second innings as they tried to avoid defeat says much about the character of a man whom Douglas Jardine, England’s captain, praised for his “amazing ability to play the ball in the exact centre of his bat at the very last fraction of a second”.

Woodfull’s vice-captain, Vic Richardson, may have fought back, but Woodfull was too dignified to allow bodyline in response. Certainly, Richardson’s grandson, Ian Chappell, had few qualms about allowing bowlers to hit batsmen 40 years later.

Richardson also possessed a sharp tongue that stunned Jardine when the England captain went to complain about overhearing an Australian call Larwood a bastard. “OK, which of you bastards called Larwood a bastard instead of this bastard,” was his response to the dressing-room.

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