October 23rd

by Brass Monkey Tue 23 Oct 2007, 10:37

Birth of the man who championed Bodyline. England captain Douglas Jardine perfected a strategy which had been around for a few years which involved short, fast bowling aimed at the body with a ring of fielders on the leg side. The main idea, which relied on a battery of accurate quick bowlers led by Harold Larwood, was conceived to counter Don Bradman's phenomenal scoring, and to bring back the Ashes on England's tour of 1932-33. And it worked: England won 4-1 and Bradman averaged a below-par (for him) 56. The tactic was hugely controversial, however (Bert Oldfield suffered a fractured skull when he mishooked, and several others took nasty blows), and Jardine was loathed in Australia. But he insisted it was not unfair, and when West Indians Learie Constantine and Manny Martindale gave England a taste of their own medicine at Old Trafford the following summer, the "Iron Duke" practised what he preached with a brave 127, his only Test hundred. He was known for being the first in the bath, and watching all his charges getting in with one hand under the water - his team saw so little that hand they expanded on "Duke" to call him 'Wellington', after the Duke of Wellington whose hand was usually not around to be seen. They suspected what he was doing but due to the polite nature of the day and the fact that he made those grubby little Aussies look the sooks they have always been they let it slide. Jardine died in Switzerland in 1958.