England’s ‘art of war’ Ashes: Before Bazball came Bodyline

British comedian during his visit to Australia Sid James He sported the violent bowling technique that the Australians were using to terrorize cricket-playing countries at the time. (Photo, circa 1972.)

“body line“It was a brutal cricket tactic designed by the English cricket team during the Ashes series of the 1930s to counter them”Bradman” problem.

Like explained In an Australian television series about the since-banned method of bowling:

‘This technique involved throwing the ball directly at the batsman’s body, which resulted in many Australian teams being injured along with the batsman. Bert Oldfield having a cracked skull and creating a lot of anger and resentment towards the English team in Australia.’

After the controversial process 1932–33 Ashes tour to AustraliaShort-pitched fast bowling continued but was no longer called Bodyline due to rule changes.

In the mid-70s, defenders of the Australian cricketer “bouncer” Denis Lillee and my pacemaker friend Jeff Thomsonit became:

‘…the most feared bowling matchup of the period and it did great damage to England: it rattled the tourists’ batsmen in the 1974-75 series in Australia…’

Today, Ashes is still just as fiercely debated.

**This photo is part of an IA. A series that looks at Australia through the eyes of award-winning photojournalist Bill McAuley.**

Bill McAuley’s 40-plus-year news career began in 1969 as a student photographer at ‘The Age’ in Melbourne.

He has several published collections including ‘Portraits of the Soul: A lifetime of images with Bill McAuley’ and ‘Last Light on Victoria Dock, 1999’. Click to see more from Bill Here.

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