THE FIRST TEST MATCH
The big news at the start of the first Test
on 2 December, 1932, in Sydney was that Donald Bradman was ill. He had succumbed to a general
malaise that remains mysterious to this day, but doctors agreed he was in no fit state to play. Jardine stated, in 1934,
that he thought Bradman had suffered a nervous breakdown.
This was the first Test series to be broadcast live on radio in Australia, so coverage was complete and instant to anyone within reach of a radio across the country. The journalists following the English tour had been discussing England's tactics in the pressrooms and tossed around some ideas on what to call the English bowling strategy. Nobody knows who first said it, but Hugh Buggy of the Melbourne Herald was the first to write it. His story in the Herald of 2 December, the dawn of the first Test, contained the word that described where those fast balls were aimed: bodyline.
Not all the Englishmen were in favour of the tactic though. On the morning of the Test, Jardine said to bowler Gubby Allen, "We all think you should bowl more bouncers, and with more fielders on the leg side." Allen replied, "Douglas, I have never done that, and it's not the way I want to play cricket."
Bill Woodfull won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch was tinged with green and the sixth ball of the day, from Larwood bowling to a standard field, rose sharply and just missed Woodfull's head. From the other end, Voce opened with a full Bodyline attack to a concentrated leg side field, and no slip at all.
The pitch was not particularly fast, and the openers scored 22 runs against the onslaught, Bill Ponsford hit once on the hip, before Woodfull was out for 7. Jack Fingleton came in, with heavy padding covering his still recovering bruises from the previous game, and also took a blow to the hip. Fingleton played the hook shot as he had done with some success for NSW and the pair took the score to 65 before Ponsford, after having been struck again, on the rump turning to evade a ball aimed at him, was bowled by Larwood. Fingleton than fell to a leg side catch fending the ball away. Arthur Kippax was next to go, after being struck a glancing blow on the head, and once on the knuckles.
Australia had slumped to 87/4 and there was a deathly silence from the crowd of 40,000 spectators. Bob Wyatt, fielding near the boundary, was pelted with apple cores and orange peels by disgusted patrons.
Stan McCabe was at the crease, and Vic Richardson joined him as Kippax walked off. McCabe's parents were at the ground,
and before walking on to bat McCabe had said to his father, "If I get hit out there, make sure you stop mum from
jumping the fence." But McCabe weathered the Bodyline storm as he pulled and hooked and played defensive strokes on
his way to 187 not out. He punished the non-Bodyline bowlers: Gubby Allen, Wally Hammond, and Hedley Verity.
But after Richardson was out on 49, Australia's tail collapsed quickly down to Tim Wall coming in at number 11, with the
score 305/9. Bill O'Reilly, batting at number 10, had lasted only 8 balls, the first of which from Larwood had nearly
taken off his head. There was to be no relaxing of Bodyline for the less skilled batsmen. But Wall defied the attack,
refusing to get out for 33 minutes while he helped McCabe add another 55 runs, 51 of them off McCabe's bat. The
58,000-strong second day crowd stood and cheered McCabe off the field.
The English team boasted a strong batting lineup though, and after Bob Wyatt was out for 38, Herbe Sutcliffe and Wally Hammond took England to 252/1 at the end of the second day. Travelling home on the tram, the two umpires George Hele and George Borwick overheard many grumbled complaints from spectators about the Bodyline tactics. Discussing events that night, the umpires decided they were powerless to do anything to prevent Jardine's tactics, as there was no mandate within the Laws of Cricket to cover such a situation.
After the rest day, England carried their innings to 479/6 on 5 December. On the fourth day, 6 December, England were finally dismissed for 524, with a first innings lead of 164 runs.
Australia came in to face more rough treatment. Ponsford was cracked on the hand by Voce and ripped his gloves off in agony. Next ball he swayed out of the way of what he thought would be another bullet aimed at his body, only to see the ball smash into his leg stump. Larwood smashed Woodfull's stumps soon after and Australia were 10/2. McCabe, promoted to number 4, put together 51 runs with Fingleton. At 61, Hammond trapped McCabe lbw and had the incoming Richardson caught at slip the next ball. Wickets continued to fall and only the clock and a botched stumping attempt by keeper Les Ames let the Australians see through the day. They ended at 164/9, with the scores level and only one wicket in hand.
Only 100 or so showed up to witness the 10 balls bowled on the fifth day. Voce bowled O'Reilly with the ninth ball of the day, with no score added. After his outstanding batting performance, McCabe was given the chance to cause a stir with the ball, but Sutcliffe hit his first delivery for a comfortable single and the winning run. England had won by 10 wickets.
McCabe had been hit on the body by the ball four times, Fingleton eight. But the Australian Board of Control remained inactive. Harold Heydon, secretary of the NSW Cricket Association wrote Bill Jeanes in Adelaide, secretary of the Board of Control, warning that any repeat of the Bodyline tactics at the Adelaide Oval might be liable to cause public disorder. Future Governor-General of Australia Billy McKell urged Woodfull to retaliate against England's batsmen in kind. Woodfull refused point blank, and was called a "Puritan" by the editor of The Australian Cricketer for it.
This was the first Test series to be broadcast live on radio in Australia, so coverage was complete and instant to anyone within reach of a radio across the country. The journalists following the English tour had been discussing England's tactics in the pressrooms and tossed around some ideas on what to call the English bowling strategy. Nobody knows who first said it, but Hugh Buggy of the Melbourne Herald was the first to write it. His story in the Herald of 2 December, the dawn of the first Test, contained the word that described where those fast balls were aimed: bodyline.
Not all the Englishmen were in favour of the tactic though. On the morning of the Test, Jardine said to bowler Gubby Allen, "We all think you should bowl more bouncers, and with more fielders on the leg side." Allen replied, "Douglas, I have never done that, and it's not the way I want to play cricket."
Bill Woodfull won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch was tinged with green and the sixth ball of the day, from Larwood bowling to a standard field, rose sharply and just missed Woodfull's head. From the other end, Voce opened with a full Bodyline attack to a concentrated leg side field, and no slip at all.
The pitch was not particularly fast, and the openers scored 22 runs against the onslaught, Bill Ponsford hit once on the hip, before Woodfull was out for 7. Jack Fingleton came in, with heavy padding covering his still recovering bruises from the previous game, and also took a blow to the hip. Fingleton played the hook shot as he had done with some success for NSW and the pair took the score to 65 before Ponsford, after having been struck again, on the rump turning to evade a ball aimed at him, was bowled by Larwood. Fingleton than fell to a leg side catch fending the ball away. Arthur Kippax was next to go, after being struck a glancing blow on the head, and once on the knuckles.
Australia had slumped to 87/4 and there was a deathly silence from the crowd of 40,000 spectators. Bob Wyatt, fielding near the boundary, was pelted with apple cores and orange peels by disgusted patrons.
Stan McCabe rubs his chest after being struck by a ball. |
The English team boasted a strong batting lineup though, and after Bob Wyatt was out for 38, Herbe Sutcliffe and Wally Hammond took England to 252/1 at the end of the second day. Travelling home on the tram, the two umpires George Hele and George Borwick overheard many grumbled complaints from spectators about the Bodyline tactics. Discussing events that night, the umpires decided they were powerless to do anything to prevent Jardine's tactics, as there was no mandate within the Laws of Cricket to cover such a situation.
After the rest day, England carried their innings to 479/6 on 5 December. On the fourth day, 6 December, England were finally dismissed for 524, with a first innings lead of 164 runs.
Australia came in to face more rough treatment. Ponsford was cracked on the hand by Voce and ripped his gloves off in agony. Next ball he swayed out of the way of what he thought would be another bullet aimed at his body, only to see the ball smash into his leg stump. Larwood smashed Woodfull's stumps soon after and Australia were 10/2. McCabe, promoted to number 4, put together 51 runs with Fingleton. At 61, Hammond trapped McCabe lbw and had the incoming Richardson caught at slip the next ball. Wickets continued to fall and only the clock and a botched stumping attempt by keeper Les Ames let the Australians see through the day. They ended at 164/9, with the scores level and only one wicket in hand.
Only 100 or so showed up to witness the 10 balls bowled on the fifth day. Voce bowled O'Reilly with the ninth ball of the day, with no score added. After his outstanding batting performance, McCabe was given the chance to cause a stir with the ball, but Sutcliffe hit his first delivery for a comfortable single and the winning run. England had won by 10 wickets.
McCabe had been hit on the body by the ball four times, Fingleton eight. But the Australian Board of Control remained inactive. Harold Heydon, secretary of the NSW Cricket Association wrote Bill Jeanes in Adelaide, secretary of the Board of Control, warning that any repeat of the Bodyline tactics at the Adelaide Oval might be liable to cause public disorder. Future Governor-General of Australia Billy McKell urged Woodfull to retaliate against England's batsmen in kind. Woodfull refused point blank, and was called a "Puritan" by the editor of The Australian Cricketer for it.
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