Umpiring in the 1946–47 Ashes series
Encyclopedia
The England team were unhappy with the umpiring in the 1946–47 Ashes series
, in particular when Don Bradman was not given out when caught by Jack Ikin
for 28 in the First Test and 22 in the Second (Bradman went on to make 187 and 234). Test cricket was not filmed except for highlights and the notion of Test umpires using slow-motion replays or other modern techniques would have been considered absurd. Instead the umpires had to make judgements based on what they saw in a split-second, and honest mistakes were accepted as part and parcel of the game. However, touring teams sometimes felt that there was a natural bias towards the home team which led to some acrimony if important decisions always went against them. The Australian Ray Robinson wrote in The Cricketer
:
The 1946-47 Ashes series was the first in Australia for ten years because of the Second World War. Only two umpires were used in the five Tests as there had been no opportunity for new umpires to come to the fore. They were George Borwick, who had been an umpire in the infamous Bodyline
series of 1932-33
and John Scott
, famous in Australia for cracking down on the same hostile fast bowling he used to serve up as a young man in the Sheffield Shield. They had been umpires in the "Goodwill Tour" of 1936-37
when there had been no problems and had the confidence of both teams. After the First Test the England captain Wally Hammond
and his manager Major Rupert Howard tactfully suggested that other umpires might be added to the panel, but this proposal was rejected by the Australian Board of Control
which included the Australian captain
Don Bradman. It may simply have been the case that the ABC had no other umpire that it could use. Hammond had been asked by the MCC
to promote sportsmanship and avoid disruption even at the cost of the series and therefore had limited options. He could have taken his concerns to the MCC so that they could make representations with greater authority or gone to the press to raise a public outcry and so force the ABC's hand, but he did neither. Even so the English press corps in Australia (and some Australian journalists like Clif Cary
) queried the competence of the umpires (their honesty was never questioned). As Australia won the first two Tests this was seen as 'squealing' by the Australia newspapers who were supported by journalists back in London who said that umpiring decisions must never be questioned. The furore was enough for Umpire Scott to resign after the Fifth Test, he told his critics that they had "pilloried and lampooned him for doing his duty fearlessly...I gave no decision I regret, nor did I feel afterwards that I would have liked to have withdrawn any decision I made". Umpire Borwick made a statement that he thought Ray Lindwall
did not bowl bumpers
in the series - contradicting Lindwall, who said he was ordered to bowl them by Bradman - and retired after the Indian tour of Australia in 1947-48.
The most contentious decision of the series was when Don Bradman was not given out when he was on 28 in the First Test. Bradman was returning to bat after the war and a serious illness had struggled for an hour even on a good batting strip. Australia were 72/2 when Bill Voce
bowled a ball that "flew from the blade of the bat to Ikin
". Clif Cary
was watching Bradman with Zeiss glasses while commentating on the radio and reported "The next ball from Voce rises as it goes away and Bradman is out...Bradman out, caught Ikin at second slip, bowled by Voce, for 28". Ikin made the mistake of not appealing immediately as it was assumed that a batsmen will walk when he is so obviously out, but "Bradman stood there as if he had never hit the ball" "The fieldsmen stared as Bradman stood his ground, then appealed for a catch. In believing that he had jammed the ball on to the ground before it rose, Don was in a minority of the nearest witnesses on the field but that minority included the umpire". As one player said afterwards "cricket is coming to a pretty pass if a side has to appeal for everything; when that happens it will mean the end of all those things for which cricket is supposed to stand".
Cary wrote "there was not doubt of the legality of the catch", Jack Fingleton
called it "one of the most unfortunate decisions in the history of the Tests." and most English pressmen shared their view. However, E.W. Swanton reported "The Don waited for the decision, confident that it was a bump ball, and the umpire Borwick, ruled 'not out'". In the Australian dressing rooms the players were divided as to whether he was out or not. When Bradman returned at the end of the session he said he had had played down on a yorker and to Ray Lindwall
there was no doubt as to his sincerity. In the end the batsman was given the benefit of the doubt, but it had repercussions. Bradman recovered his form and hit 159 runs in 160 minutes before he was out for 187, which set up Australia's victory in the first Test by an innings and 332 runs. This was a morale-booster for a young team with eight debutants, but if Bradman had been out the Australian total would have been less, England would have batted on a flat wicket and the thunderstorm that wrecked the wicket would have caught Australia in their second innings. 'As he walked past Bradman at the end of the over Hammond glared at Bradman and said tensely, "That's a fine way to start a Test series"'. The England captain was furious that Bradman had not walked in what was supposed to be a post-war goodwill tour and refused to talk to him for the rest of the series except to call the toss. To the press he was more diplomatic "I thought it was a catch but the umpire may have been right and I may have been wrong" Bradman, 38 years old and suffering from fibrositis, had been advised not to play by his doctor and a cheap dismissal might have made him retire, especially if he had been caught on a sticky wicket in the second innings. Keith Miller
later wrote "that decision was subsequently admitted in nearly every quarter to have been erroneous".
A similar incident occurred in the Second Test, though it might not have been seen as a problem if it had not followed the events of the first. Bradman was on 22 when he appeared to snick another catch to Ikin at short leg, but "this time there may have been some cause for doubt; it was an appeal that could have gone either way". Bradman was given not out and made 234, so in his first two innings he made 421 runs, but if he had he been given out he would have made only 50. In the Fourth Test at Adelaide Cyril Washbrook
was given out to Ray Lindwall
to a ball that Don Tallon
scooped off the ground. Washbrook "stood there transfixed. Even some of the Australian leg-side fielders expressed amazement". Tallon was known for his impetuous appealing - "he was often roaring before he had studied facts and it was his over-eagerness that brought about the shocking decision" - and Bradman asked him if he still wanted to appeal. Tallon said he did and Bradman stood by the decision. It was later suggested that Tallon told Bradman that it was not a clean catch and Clif Cary
thought if Bradman had gone into the matter further he would have recalled Washbrook as had happened in other such cases. The Australian reporter Ray Robinson wrote "I believe nearby fieldsmen were impetuous in appealing as the wicket-keeper scooped up the ball, and that the hesitant umpire would have been wiser to have asked his square-leg colleague whether it carried to the gloves or was gathered on the half-volley". Hammond tried to locate a press photograph of the ball touching the ground to show the ABC
, who demanded proof of the incompetence of the umpires before they were willing to change them, but no photo was found.
The only complaint from the Australian side about the umpiring was that Ray Lindwall
thought Denis Compton
should have been stumped in both innings of the Fourth Test before he reached either of his centuries. In the first innings the glare from the sun (it was 105°F
/40°C) was so bright that the white paint of the crease could not be seen clearly, and the same may have applied in the second innings, but little fuss was made of this.
After tea on the second day of the Second Test at Sydney
Australia were 24/1 after Arthur Morris
was bowled by Bill Edrich
on a wet wicket suited to the England bowling attack. "On a stormy Saturday Barnes
and Johnson
angered the crowd by making made 8 appeals against the light in 11 minutes...This stalling saved Australia losing more than Morris's
wicket and the granting of the last appeal enabled Bradman to rest a strained leg for Monday". The umpires gave in to the constant appealing and the batsmen were allowed to retire an hour before stumps. When they returned next day Barnes survived the early bad wicket and went on the make 234, his highest Test score, adding 405 with Bradman in what still is the highest Test partnership in Australia. Bradman had received permission from Hammond to use a substitute fielder earlier in the day because of a pulled leg muscle and as a result did not have to come out to bat on a wet wicket. He was able to rest on the Sunday and when play resumed on the Monday he lowered himself down the batting order and came out in the afternoon, when "He limped as if in extreme pain, and several times lay on the ground as if ill", On the Tuesday he gave "an amazing exhibition in amassing 234 runs - that is, amazing for one who was supposed to be a cripple. He played all the shots, pulled leg muscle and all, and often ran between the wickets with the speed of an Olympic sprinter
".Clif Cary
opined in his radio commentary that the light was bright enough to play by and the umpires had been pressured into a decision by the Australian batsmen, as did the English pressmen. They were labelled "biased, unsportsmanlike squealers" and that Barnes and his captain Bradman would never used such underhand tactics. After the series ended Barnes gave a radio interview and freely admitted that he had "kept on appealing until the umpires answered me" simply because he thought the wicket was bad.
In the Third Test Barnes appealed for light at the end of the second day, which was rejected, but he saw out the day with Morris. In the final half hour of the Test Norman Yardley
and Godfrey Evans
batted on when Australia wanted three wickets for their third victory of the series "even though the light was atrocious and rain was falling heavily". Hammond had been dismissed earlier, but refused to let his team appeal against the light, either to make a point about the Barnes appeal or simply due to sportsmanship. Bill O'Reilly
said "I could not understand why the English batsman seemed loath to appeal against the weather, even when the rain was coming down solidly. There are no praises for gallant gestures in Tests matches". In the Fifth Test the new England captain Norman Yardley
appealed against the light in a low scoring match where every run was vital. He had his appeal turned down and he and Jack Ikin
lost their wickets in light so bad that the Australian cameramen were unable to take clear photographs. They were carrying light meter
s (not available to umpires for nearly 40 years) and stated that the light was much worse than when Barnes and Johnson were allowed off the field.
Leg before wicket
decisions are notoriously difficult to judge and only the umpire is in the correct position to judge the line of the ball and its height when its hits the batsmen. The lbw laws of the time meant that a batsman could not be lbw to a ball that pitched outside the off-stump unless he was also outside the off-stump. Though this was meant to encourage off-side strokeplay and prevent batsmen from padding away balls it resulted in batsmen padding-up to off-side balls while in front of the wicket and encouraged inswing bowlers such as Alec Bedser
who normally hit the batsmen in front of the leg-stump.
In the Third Test at Melbourne
Bill Edrich
was given out lbw to Ray Lindwall
by Umpire Scott after he hit the ball onto his pads with his bat. The bowler wrote "Bill genuinely thought he hit the ball onto his pad...I saw no deviation of the ball after it pitched and I heard no click". A few minutes later he gave Denis Compton
out lbw to Ernie Toshack
when padding up of a ball that landed outside the stumps, causing the Middlesex player to stare at him in disbelief before his walked off. Lindwall wrote that Compton "made no stroke at a ball he thought had pitched outside his leg-stump, but which umpire and bowler declared pitched on the line of the leg stump", which would made Compton out. Wally Hammond
came on and, annoyed at the two dismissals, gave a simple caught-and-bowled to Bruce Dooland
. Cyril Washbrook
was out soon after and England collapsed from 155/1 to 179/5. Scott was angry with the English pressmen who accused him of making the wrong decisions, saying Edrich had not hit the ball with his bat and Washbrook had thought Compton was out (though Washbrook was several yards to the right of the umpire and so unable to judge the line of the ball).
Conversely the England leg-spinner Doug Wright
was considered to be the unluckiest bowler in the world; "He continually rapped the pads with his straight one, and when the decision went against him, his face clouded with puzzled dismay." In the Third Test he caught Bradman with a straight ball that he to hit to leg, but missed and the ball hit him on the top of his pads plumb in front of the stumps. Wright and Evans
appealed, but Bradman was given not out. However, a cameraman took a series of photographs of the delivery and "the camera appears to give a different verdict".
In modern cricket the bowler is no ball
ed if he bowls without some part of the front foot (either grounded or raised) behind the popping crease and if his back foot is not wholly inside the return crease. In the 1940s the front foot rule had not been written, so the requirement was that one foot be behind the return crease and fast bowlers tended to drag the toe of their rear foot over the return crease in decrease the distance between them and the batsmen when they released the ball. If they timed it well the delivery was made when the toe was still behind the crease, but they could drag it over the line and they would be no balled. This proved to be a particular problem in the 1950s
. As you can see on this old cine film of Ray Lindwall
dragging his foot over the return crease. See Film on Youtube. It should have been called as a no ball as his rear foot was past the crease when he delivered the ball, easy to see in a slow motion replay, but difficult for the umpire. Lindwall's action was a text book model, but he was known for his heavy drag. Alan Kippax
said that he watched Lindwall for 45 minutes in the Fourth Test at Adelaide without once seeing him bowl a legal delivery and sometimes his foot dragged 18 inches over the crease. However, the fast bowler was only called for no balling twice in the series, which Clif Cary
thought was a disservice to Lindwall as the English umpires would call him in 1948
if he did not correct his action in time (this proved not to be a problem). Lindwall himself wrote that if the no-ball law was enforced strictly almost every bowler would be no-balled and “the spirit of the law demanded that the bowler should land behind the bowling crease and as long as I did that I was playing the game”. The New South Wales Cricket Association
asked him to bowl a yard back from his present delivery, but Bill O'Reilly
advised him not to change until no-balled by an umpire and as a result Lindwall kept his action unchanged.
This was the opposite of what happened to the English leg-spinner Doug Wright
, a notorious no-baller with a "long, springy run and windmill action" that saw him overstep the line too many times. Bill O'Reilly
wrote "He waves his arms widely, and rocks on his legs like a small ship pitching and tossing in a fairly heavy sea. Whenever he bowls in Australia there are people who whistle and cat-call as he goes through his strange approach to the stumps." Jack Fingleton
called the no-ball "Wright's curse...He's probably bowled more of these than any other spinner in history", It was easier for the umpires to call Wright for no-balling as be bowled at a slow-medium pace and Lindwall’s fast bowling was more difficult to judge, but they should have called them equally if their feet were over the line. Incidentally, Wright had a habit of licking his hand before bowling each ball which the umpires forbade in the 1950-51 Ashes series and upset his rhythm, but was allowed by Scott and Bowick in 1946-47.
After the Bodyline
series of 1932-33
hostile fast bowling was discouraged in Australia. In 1936-37
Umpires Scott and Borwick even gave the two teams a lecture on short pitched bowling. In the Goodwill Tour Gubby Allen
, Bill Voce
and Ernie McCormick
bowled to a good length and the batsmen enjoyed making runs. After Len Hutton
's 364 at the Oval in 1938 the Australian team reckoned fast bowling should return to normal as they thought Hutton had a weakness against fast bowling. Jack Fingleton
reckoned he would have received a warm reception on the next tour of Australia. When Test cricket resumed with the 1946-47 Ashes series Australia found that they had two quality fast bowlers in Ray Lindwall
and Keith Miller
and since England only had the medium pace of Alec Bedser
and an aging Bill Voce
they could bowl as many bouncers as they liked without fear of retaliation. Their particular target was Hutton, who was given a "opening blitz
" at the start of the innings, but Hammond and Erich also suffered.
In the First Test Keith Miller
dug the ball in short and "nearly every ball from Lindwall rose head high". “Edrich batted for 105 minutes. He suffered more than 40 body blows with a nonchalant contempt for danger and seemed content to be battered black and blue rather than lose his wicket. It was grim concentration and unflinching courage of the type rarely seen in Australia, and he was undaunted even after a terrific sickener under the ribs from Miller". Lindwall wrote that Hammond and Edrich "were hit on the body repeatedly". Miller used a limited leg-trap some of the time, but he quickly slowed his pace as on the rain-affected pitch the ball lept so much that it could hit the batsman, but not get them out. One English pressman wrote that this was Bodyline
, to the anger of Vic Richardson
, Alan Kippax
and Clarrie Grimmett
who had seen the real thing. Clif Cary
wrote that "the placements were sufficient to cause the batsmen worry, although they did not justify one journalist describing the attack as "bodyline" to lend colour and expression to his cable". The England bowler Bill Voce
and the reporter Bill Bowes
did not comment on the matter, but Harold Larwood
said that Bodyline was less dangerous as the batsman knew what to expect - bouncers on the leg-stump - but here they could get anything.
After the Ashes
had been retained Fingleton wrote that it would be sporting if the Fast bowlers stopped bouncing Hutton, whose left arm had been badly broken in the war - it had required 46 stitches to repair his arm, which was left two inches (5 cm) shorter and another injury could end his career. It was also thought unsportsmanlike to bowl them at Paul Gibb
who wore glasses. It was noted that though Bradman did not tell Lindwall and Miller to stop bowling bouncers in general as a good captain he did not allow them to bowl short at Cyril Washbrook
. As well as being a resolute batsman Washbrook had a weakness for cutting the ball outside the off-stump, so that is where Bradman directed his bowlers and he received fewer short balls as a result. Denis Compton
and Norman Yardley
had weaknesses against the spinners, so Bradman would bring on Ian Johnson
and Colin McCool
to bowl to them. "So it was that bumpers
were not wanted. They were generally kept for those who had a real hatred for them, while a few additional slammers were indiscriminately thrown in for good measure against all and sundry".
1946–47 Ashes series
The 1946–47 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each of six days with five hours play each day and eight ball overs. Unlike pre-war Tests in Australia, matches were not timeless and played to a finish. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1946–47 and England played its...
, in particular when Don Bradman was not given out when caught by Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
for 28 in the First Test and 22 in the Second (Bradman went on to make 187 and 234). Test cricket was not filmed except for highlights and the notion of Test umpires using slow-motion replays or other modern techniques would have been considered absurd. Instead the umpires had to make judgements based on what they saw in a split-second, and honest mistakes were accepted as part and parcel of the game. However, touring teams sometimes felt that there was a natural bias towards the home team which led to some acrimony if important decisions always went against them. The Australian Ray Robinson wrote in The Cricketer
The Cricketer
The Cricketer was an English cricket magazine published between 1921 and 2003 when it was merged with Wisden Cricket Monthly and relaunched as The Wisden Cricketer....
:
Usually debatable decisions work out fairly evenly over a Test rubber, but weight of evidence suggests that the umpires were mistaken in giving Bradman not out caught for 28 in the First Test, Edrich out leg-before-wicket for 89 in the Third Test, and Washbrook out caught behind the wicket for 39 in the Fourth Test. These decisions came at such points in England's bids to gain an advantage that they could almost be termed turning-points of the three games.
The Umpires
Umpiring is a thankless sort of task. it is unspectacular, its financial rewards are not great, and it calls for unwavering concentration during hours of standing, sometimes under a pitless sun, sometimes in a biting wind. To this must be added the fact that decisions like stumpings, run-outs, l.b.w.s and catches at the wicket are frequently the cause of contention, with the umpire invariably coming in for adverse criticism.
- Keith Miller
Keith MillerKeith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
The 1946-47 Ashes series was the first in Australia for ten years because of the Second World War. Only two umpires were used in the five Tests as there had been no opportunity for new umpires to come to the fore. They were George Borwick, who had been an umpire in the infamous Bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
series of 1932-33
English cricket team in Australia in 1932-33
A cricket team representing England toured Australia in the 1932-33 season. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name. The tour included five Test matches in Australia, and England won The Ashes by four games to one...
and John Scott
John Scott (cricketer)
John Drake Scott was an Australian cricketer and Test match umpire. Scott played as a right-arm fast bowler and was also a useful lower-order right-handed batsman. He was the first man to dismiss Don Bradman in first-class cricket, in December 1927...
, famous in Australia for cracking down on the same hostile fast bowling he used to serve up as a young man in the Sheffield Shield. They had been umpires in the "Goodwill Tour" of 1936-37
English cricket team in Australia in 1936-37
The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1936-37 season to play a five-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name....
when there had been no problems and had the confidence of both teams. After the First Test the England captain Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
and his manager Major Rupert Howard tactfully suggested that other umpires might be added to the panel, but this proposal was rejected by the Australian Board of Control
Cricket Australia
Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket...
which included the Australian captain
Australian cricket team in Australia in 1946-47
The 1946-47 Australians defeated the touring England team 3-0 in the 1946-47 Ashes series. First class cricket had continued in Australia until January 1942 and as grade cricket had continued throughout the war there had been less of an hiatus than in England...
Don Bradman. It may simply have been the case that the ABC had no other umpire that it could use. Hammond had been asked by the MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
to promote sportsmanship and avoid disruption even at the cost of the series and therefore had limited options. He could have taken his concerns to the MCC so that they could make representations with greater authority or gone to the press to raise a public outcry and so force the ABC's hand, but he did neither. Even so the English press corps in Australia (and some Australian journalists like Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
) queried the competence of the umpires (their honesty was never questioned). As Australia won the first two Tests this was seen as 'squealing' by the Australia newspapers who were supported by journalists back in London who said that umpiring decisions must never be questioned. The furore was enough for Umpire Scott to resign after the Fifth Test, he told his critics that they had "pilloried and lampooned him for doing his duty fearlessly...I gave no decision I regret, nor did I feel afterwards that I would have liked to have withdrawn any decision I made". Umpire Borwick made a statement that he thought Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
did not bowl bumpers
Bouncer (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bouncer is a type of delivery, usually bowled by a fast bowler. It is pitched short so that it bounces on the pitch well short of the batsman and rears up to chest or head height as it reaches the batsman.Bouncers are used tactically to drive the batsman back on to his...
in the series - contradicting Lindwall, who said he was ordered to bowl them by Bradman - and retired after the Indian tour of Australia in 1947-48.
Catches and Stumpings
Bradman had only made 28, when he played Bill VoceBill VoceBill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
into the slips. Jack IkinJack IkinJohn Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
caught the ball and threw it high in the air in joy. He had caught the great Bradman, and Australia, he thought, were three down for under a hundred on a good wicket. That was how it looked to Ikin, to some of the other English players and some of the crowd, and that was how it looked to me sitting watching from the dressing room. Bradman, however, thought it was a bump ball and he stayed, as he was fully entitled to do if there was any doubt in his mind...the umpire gave him not out and he went on to make 187 of Australia's total of 645.
- Keith Miller
Keith MillerKeith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
bowled a ball that "flew from the blade of the bat to Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
". Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
was watching Bradman with Zeiss glasses while commentating on the radio and reported "The next ball from Voce rises as it goes away and Bradman is out...Bradman out, caught Ikin at second slip, bowled by Voce, for 28". Ikin made the mistake of not appealing immediately as it was assumed that a batsmen will walk when he is so obviously out, but "Bradman stood there as if he had never hit the ball" "The fieldsmen stared as Bradman stood his ground, then appealed for a catch. In believing that he had jammed the ball on to the ground before it rose, Don was in a minority of the nearest witnesses on the field but that minority included the umpire". As one player said afterwards "cricket is coming to a pretty pass if a side has to appeal for everything; when that happens it will mean the end of all those things for which cricket is supposed to stand".
Cary wrote "there was not doubt of the legality of the catch", Jack Fingleton
Jack Fingleton
John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton OBE was an Australian cricketer who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career...
called it "one of the most unfortunate decisions in the history of the Tests." and most English pressmen shared their view. However, E.W. Swanton reported "The Don waited for the decision, confident that it was a bump ball, and the umpire Borwick, ruled 'not out'". In the Australian dressing rooms the players were divided as to whether he was out or not. When Bradman returned at the end of the session he said he had had played down on a yorker and to Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
there was no doubt as to his sincerity. In the end the batsman was given the benefit of the doubt, but it had repercussions. Bradman recovered his form and hit 159 runs in 160 minutes before he was out for 187, which set up Australia's victory in the first Test by an innings and 332 runs. This was a morale-booster for a young team with eight debutants, but if Bradman had been out the Australian total would have been less, England would have batted on a flat wicket and the thunderstorm that wrecked the wicket would have caught Australia in their second innings. 'As he walked past Bradman at the end of the over Hammond glared at Bradman and said tensely, "That's a fine way to start a Test series"'. The England captain was furious that Bradman had not walked in what was supposed to be a post-war goodwill tour and refused to talk to him for the rest of the series except to call the toss. To the press he was more diplomatic "I thought it was a catch but the umpire may have been right and I may have been wrong" Bradman, 38 years old and suffering from fibrositis, had been advised not to play by his doctor and a cheap dismissal might have made him retire, especially if he had been caught on a sticky wicket in the second innings. Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
later wrote "that decision was subsequently admitted in nearly every quarter to have been erroneous".
A similar incident occurred in the Second Test, though it might not have been seen as a problem if it had not followed the events of the first. Bradman was on 22 when he appeared to snick another catch to Ikin at short leg, but "this time there may have been some cause for doubt; it was an appeal that could have gone either way". Bradman was given not out and made 234, so in his first two innings he made 421 runs, but if he had he been given out he would have made only 50. In the Fourth Test at Adelaide Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
was given out to Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
to a ball that Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
scooped off the ground. Washbrook "stood there transfixed. Even some of the Australian leg-side fielders expressed amazement". Tallon was known for his impetuous appealing - "he was often roaring before he had studied facts and it was his over-eagerness that brought about the shocking decision" - and Bradman asked him if he still wanted to appeal. Tallon said he did and Bradman stood by the decision. It was later suggested that Tallon told Bradman that it was not a clean catch and Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
thought if Bradman had gone into the matter further he would have recalled Washbrook as had happened in other such cases. The Australian reporter Ray Robinson wrote "I believe nearby fieldsmen were impetuous in appealing as the wicket-keeper scooped up the ball, and that the hesitant umpire would have been wiser to have asked his square-leg colleague whether it carried to the gloves or was gathered on the half-volley". Hammond tried to locate a press photograph of the ball touching the ground to show the ABC
Cricket Australia
Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket...
, who demanded proof of the incompetence of the umpires before they were willing to change them, but no photo was found.
The only complaint from the Australian side about the umpiring was that Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
thought Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
should have been stumped in both innings of the Fourth Test before he reached either of his centuries. In the first innings the glare from the sun (it was 105°F
Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit . Within this scale, the freezing of water into ice is defined at 32 degrees, while the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 degrees...
/40°C) was so bright that the white paint of the crease could not be seen clearly, and the same may have applied in the second innings, but little fuss was made of this.
Bad Light
We could have played on, but it was a Test match and we just had to win. I realised something drastic had to be done or three wickets might be lost. So I appealed after every second ball. I complained of the people moving about, the light, and, in fact, anything, in an effort to get the appeal upheld.
- Sid Barnes
Sid BarnesSidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
Australia were 24/1 after Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
was bowled by Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
on a wet wicket suited to the England bowling attack. "On a stormy Saturday Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
and Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
angered the crowd by making made 8 appeals against the light in 11 minutes...This stalling saved Australia losing more than Morris's
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
wicket and the granting of the last appeal enabled Bradman to rest a strained leg for Monday". The umpires gave in to the constant appealing and the batsmen were allowed to retire an hour before stumps. When they returned next day Barnes survived the early bad wicket and went on the make 234, his highest Test score, adding 405 with Bradman in what still is the highest Test partnership in Australia. Bradman had received permission from Hammond to use a substitute fielder earlier in the day because of a pulled leg muscle and as a result did not have to come out to bat on a wet wicket. He was able to rest on the Sunday and when play resumed on the Monday he lowered himself down the batting order and came out in the afternoon, when "He limped as if in extreme pain, and several times lay on the ground as if ill", On the Tuesday he gave "an amazing exhibition in amassing 234 runs - that is, amazing for one who was supposed to be a cripple. He played all the shots, pulled leg muscle and all, and often ran between the wickets with the speed of an Olympic sprinter
Sprinter
Sprinter can refer to:in sport:* a person who participates in Sprint running* a cycling sprinter* Open-wheeled Sprint car racingmotor vehicles:* the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter , a cargo van...
".Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
opined in his radio commentary that the light was bright enough to play by and the umpires had been pressured into a decision by the Australian batsmen, as did the English pressmen. They were labelled "biased, unsportsmanlike squealers" and that Barnes and his captain Bradman would never used such underhand tactics. After the series ended Barnes gave a radio interview and freely admitted that he had "kept on appealing until the umpires answered me" simply because he thought the wicket was bad.
In the Third Test Barnes appealed for light at the end of the second day, which was rejected, but he saw out the day with Morris. In the final half hour of the Test Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
and Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
batted on when Australia wanted three wickets for their third victory of the series "even though the light was atrocious and rain was falling heavily". Hammond had been dismissed earlier, but refused to let his team appeal against the light, either to make a point about the Barnes appeal or simply due to sportsmanship. Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
said "I could not understand why the English batsman seemed loath to appeal against the weather, even when the rain was coming down solidly. There are no praises for gallant gestures in Tests matches". In the Fifth Test the new England captain Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
appealed against the light in a low scoring match where every run was vital. He had his appeal turned down and he and Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
lost their wickets in light so bad that the Australian cameramen were unable to take clear photographs. They were carrying light meter
Light meter
A light meter is a device used to measure the amount of light. In photography, a light meter is often used to determine the proper exposure for a photograph...
s (not available to umpires for nearly 40 years) and stated that the light was much worse than when Barnes and Johnson were allowed off the field.
LBW
On at least four occasions he was convinced he had Bradman in his bag but it was not to be. WrightDoug Wright (cricketer)Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
, I believe was very keen to secure such a verdict over Bradman, who only once has been dismissed l.b.w. during his Anglo-Australian Test career, and that was in his maiden game when TateMaurice TateMaurice William Tate was a Sussex and England cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s and the leader of England's Test bowling attack for a long time during this period...
found him in front. This is a Bradman record of which no mention is made on the statistical pages, but it reveals not only he marvellous eye, but also his splendid footwork...
- Clif Cary
Clif CaryClif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
Leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
decisions are notoriously difficult to judge and only the umpire is in the correct position to judge the line of the ball and its height when its hits the batsmen. The lbw laws of the time meant that a batsman could not be lbw to a ball that pitched outside the off-stump unless he was also outside the off-stump. Though this was meant to encourage off-side strokeplay and prevent batsmen from padding away balls it resulted in batsmen padding-up to off-side balls while in front of the wicket and encouraged inswing bowlers such as Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
who normally hit the batsmen in front of the leg-stump.
In the Third Test at Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
was given out lbw to Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
by Umpire Scott after he hit the ball onto his pads with his bat. The bowler wrote "Bill genuinely thought he hit the ball onto his pad...I saw no deviation of the ball after it pitched and I heard no click". A few minutes later he gave Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
out lbw to Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
when padding up of a ball that landed outside the stumps, causing the Middlesex player to stare at him in disbelief before his walked off. Lindwall wrote that Compton "made no stroke at a ball he thought had pitched outside his leg-stump, but which umpire and bowler declared pitched on the line of the leg stump", which would made Compton out. Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
came on and, annoyed at the two dismissals, gave a simple caught-and-bowled to Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1947 to 1948....
. Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
was out soon after and England collapsed from 155/1 to 179/5. Scott was angry with the English pressmen who accused him of making the wrong decisions, saying Edrich had not hit the ball with his bat and Washbrook had thought Compton was out (though Washbrook was several yards to the right of the umpire and so unable to judge the line of the ball).
Conversely the England leg-spinner Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
was considered to be the unluckiest bowler in the world; "He continually rapped the pads with his straight one, and when the decision went against him, his face clouded with puzzled dismay." In the Third Test he caught Bradman with a straight ball that he to hit to leg, but missed and the ball hit him on the top of his pads plumb in front of the stumps. Wright and Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
appealed, but Bradman was given not out. However, a cameraman took a series of photographs of the delivery and "the camera appears to give a different verdict".
No Balls
Lindwall'sRay LindwallRaymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
drag of his right foot has often brought him under the fire of those who claimed that he was over the line before he released the ball...As a matter of fact Ray's right foot is well behind the crease when he starts to bring his arm over, but he releases the ball later in his swing than any other bowler I have seen.
- Johnnie Moyes
Johnnie MoyesAlban George "Johnny" Moyes MBE MC was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Victoria. Following his brief playing career, Moyes, a professional journalist, he later gained greater fame as a writer and commentator on the game.As a right-hand batsman Moyes scored 883 runs at an average of...
No ball
In the sport of cricket a no ball is a penalty against the fielding team, usually as a result of an illegal delivery by the bowler. The delivery of a no ball results in one run to be added to the batting team's score, and an additional ball must be bowled...
ed if he bowls without some part of the front foot (either grounded or raised) behind the popping crease and if his back foot is not wholly inside the return crease. In the 1940s the front foot rule had not been written, so the requirement was that one foot be behind the return crease and fast bowlers tended to drag the toe of their rear foot over the return crease in decrease the distance between them and the batsmen when they released the ball. If they timed it well the delivery was made when the toe was still behind the crease, but they could drag it over the line and they would be no balled. This proved to be a particular problem in the 1950s
Umpiring in the 1958–59 Ashes series
The England team were very unhappy with the umpiring of the 1958–59 Ashes series, in particular the questionable actions of some bowlers in the Australian team. The televising of Test cricket was in its infancy and the notion of Test umpires using slow-motion replays or other modern techniques was...
. As you can see on this old cine film of Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
dragging his foot over the return crease. See Film on Youtube. It should have been called as a no ball as his rear foot was past the crease when he delivered the ball, easy to see in a slow motion replay, but difficult for the umpire. Lindwall's action was a text book model, but he was known for his heavy drag. Alan Kippax
Alan Kippax
Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 1928–29 and...
said that he watched Lindwall for 45 minutes in the Fourth Test at Adelaide without once seeing him bowl a legal delivery and sometimes his foot dragged 18 inches over the crease. However, the fast bowler was only called for no balling twice in the series, which Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
thought was a disservice to Lindwall as the English umpires would call him in 1948
1948 Ashes series
The 1948 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 10 June 1948, England and Australia played five Tests. Australia had not lost a Test since the Second World War and were strong favourites...
if he did not correct his action in time (this proved not to be a problem). Lindwall himself wrote that if the no-ball law was enforced strictly almost every bowler would be no-balled and “the spirit of the law demanded that the bowler should land behind the bowling crease and as long as I did that I was playing the game”. The New South Wales Cricket Association
New South Wales Cricket Association
The New South Wales Cricket Association is a sporting club who administer cricket in New South Wales, based at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Their trading name is Cricket NSW....
asked him to bowl a yard back from his present delivery, but Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
advised him not to change until no-balled by an umpire and as a result Lindwall kept his action unchanged.
This was the opposite of what happened to the English leg-spinner Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
, a notorious no-baller with a "long, springy run and windmill action" that saw him overstep the line too many times. Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
wrote "He waves his arms widely, and rocks on his legs like a small ship pitching and tossing in a fairly heavy sea. Whenever he bowls in Australia there are people who whistle and cat-call as he goes through his strange approach to the stumps." Jack Fingleton
Jack Fingleton
John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton OBE was an Australian cricketer who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career...
called the no-ball "Wright's curse...He's probably bowled more of these than any other spinner in history", It was easier for the umpires to call Wright for no-balling as be bowled at a slow-medium pace and Lindwall’s fast bowling was more difficult to judge, but they should have called them equally if their feet were over the line. Incidentally, Wright had a habit of licking his hand before bowling each ball which the umpires forbade in the 1950-51 Ashes series and upset his rhythm, but was allowed by Scott and Bowick in 1946-47.
Hostile Bowling
I must say when I bowled at LenLen HuttonSir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
I felt a sense of personal grudge I have never known against any other batsman. RayRay LindwallRaymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
did too. I suppose Len suffered a greater barrage from the two of us than any other player in the world. We both put in that little bit extra against Len, and he had to take it time after time...he had a poker face and never expressed either elation or disappointment. I tried my wickedest bumpers, hoping that I would have the satisfaction of seeing him look scared.
- Keith Miller
Keith MillerKeith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
After the Bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
series of 1932-33
English cricket team in Australia in 1932-33
A cricket team representing England toured Australia in the 1932-33 season. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name. The tour included five Test matches in Australia, and England won The Ashes by four games to one...
hostile fast bowling was discouraged in Australia. In 1936-37
English cricket team in Australia in 1936-37
The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1936-37 season to play a five-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name....
Umpires Scott and Borwick even gave the two teams a lecture on short pitched bowling. In the Goodwill Tour Gubby Allen
Gubby Allen
Sir George Oswald Browning "Gubby" Allen, CBE was a cricketer who played for Middlesex, Cambridge University, MCC and England. Australian-born, Allen was a fast bowler and hard-hitting lower-order batsman, who captained England in eleven Test matches...
, Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
and Ernie McCormick
Ernie McCormick
Ernest Leslie McCormick was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1935 to 1938....
bowled to a good length and the batsmen enjoyed making runs. After Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
's 364 at the Oval in 1938 the Australian team reckoned fast bowling should return to normal as they thought Hutton had a weakness against fast bowling. Jack Fingleton
Jack Fingleton
John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton OBE was an Australian cricketer who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career...
reckoned he would have received a warm reception on the next tour of Australia. When Test cricket resumed with the 1946-47 Ashes series Australia found that they had two quality fast bowlers in Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
and Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
and since England only had the medium pace of Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
and an aging Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
they could bowl as many bouncers as they liked without fear of retaliation. Their particular target was Hutton, who was given a "opening blitz
Blitz
-Armed conflict:*The Blitz, the German aerial attacks on Britain in WWII. The name Blitz was subsequently applied to many individual bombing campaigns or attacks.*Blitzkrieg, the "lightning war", a strategy of World War 2 Germany-People:...
" at the start of the innings, but Hammond and Erich also suffered.
In the First Test Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
dug the ball in short and "nearly every ball from Lindwall rose head high". “Edrich batted for 105 minutes. He suffered more than 40 body blows with a nonchalant contempt for danger and seemed content to be battered black and blue rather than lose his wicket. It was grim concentration and unflinching courage of the type rarely seen in Australia, and he was undaunted even after a terrific sickener under the ribs from Miller". Lindwall wrote that Hammond and Edrich "were hit on the body repeatedly". Miller used a limited leg-trap some of the time, but he quickly slowed his pace as on the rain-affected pitch the ball lept so much that it could hit the batsman, but not get them out. One English pressman wrote that this was Bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
, to the anger of Vic Richardson
Vic Richardson
Victor York Richardson OBE was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australian cricket team and the South Australian Australian rules football team, representing Australia in baseball and South Australia in golf, winning the South Australian state tennis title and...
, Alan Kippax
Alan Kippax
Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 1928–29 and...
and Clarrie Grimmett
Clarrie Grimmett
Clarence Victor "Clarrie" Grimmett was a cricketer; although born in New Zealand, he played most of his cricket in Australia. He is thought by many to be one of the finest early spin bowlers, and usually credited as the developer of the flipper.Grimmett was born in Caversham a suburb of Dunedin,...
who had seen the real thing. Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
wrote that "the placements were sufficient to cause the batsmen worry, although they did not justify one journalist describing the attack as "bodyline" to lend colour and expression to his cable". The England bowler Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
and the reporter Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes was one of the best bowlers of the interwar period and, for a time, the most important force behind Yorkshire's dominance of the County Championship...
did not comment on the matter, but Harold Larwood
Harold Larwood
Harold Larwood was an English cricket player, an extremely accurate fast bowler best known for his key role as the implementer of fast leg theory in the infamous "bodyline" Ashes Test series of 1932–33....
said that Bodyline was less dangerous as the batsman knew what to expect - bouncers on the leg-stump - but here they could get anything.
After the Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
had been retained Fingleton wrote that it would be sporting if the Fast bowlers stopped bouncing Hutton, whose left arm had been badly broken in the war - it had required 46 stitches to repair his arm, which was left two inches (5 cm) shorter and another injury could end his career. It was also thought unsportsmanlike to bowl them at Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class...
who wore glasses. It was noted that though Bradman did not tell Lindwall and Miller to stop bowling bouncers in general as a good captain he did not allow them to bowl short at Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
. As well as being a resolute batsman Washbrook had a weakness for cutting the ball outside the off-stump, so that is where Bradman directed his bowlers and he received fewer short balls as a result. Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
and Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
had weaknesses against the spinners, so Bradman would bring on Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
and Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
to bowl to them. "So it was that bumpers
Bouncer (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bouncer is a type of delivery, usually bowled by a fast bowler. It is pitched short so that it bounces on the pitch well short of the batsman and rears up to chest or head height as it reaches the batsman.Bouncers are used tactically to drive the batsman back on to his...
were not wanted. They were generally kept for those who had a real hatred for them, while a few additional slammers were indiscriminately thrown in for good measure against all and sundry".
Further reading
- Playfair Cricket AnnualPlayfair Cricket AnnualPlayfair Cricket Annual is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current...
1947 - Wisden Cricketers Almanack 1948
- Ashley Brown, The Pictorial History of Cricket, Bison Books, 1988
- Bill FrindallBill FrindallWilliam Howard Frindall, MBE was an English cricket scorer and statistician. He was familiar to cricket followers from his appearances on the BBC Radio 4 programme Test Match Special, nicknamed the Bearded Wonder by Brian Johnston for his ability to research the most obscure cricketing facts in...
, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877-1978, Wisden, 1979 - David Frith, Pageant of Cricket, The MacMillian Company of Australia, 1987
- David Frith, England Versus Australia: An Illustrated History of Every Test Match Since 1877, Viking, 2007
- Ray Robinson, On Top Down Under, Cassell, 1975
- Bob WillisBob WillisRobert George Dylan Willis MBE , known as Bob Willis, is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey, Warwickshire, Northern Transvaal and England...
and Patrick Murphy, Starting with Grace, Stanley Paul, 1986