The Third Test of the 1932–33 Ashes series was one of five Tests in a cricket series between Australia and England. The match was played at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide from 13 to 19 January 1933, with a rest day on 15 January. England won the match by 338 runs to take a series lead of 2 Tests to 1 with 2 Tests to play.
The Test was noted as the one in which the controversy over the use of "bodyline" tactics by the English team came to a head. These tactics, employed by the England fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce on the direction of their captain, Douglas Jardine, engendered much ill-feeling.
Background
In 1932–33, the English team led by Douglas Jardine toured Australia and won the Ashes in a highly acrimonious series known as the "bodyline series". It has been described as the most controversial period in Australian cricket history,Colman, p. 171. and voted the most important Australian moment by a panel of Australian cricket identities.Haigh and Frith, foreword.
The English team used controversial bowling tactics where the English fast bowlers Harold Larwood, Bill Voce and Bill Bowes bowled the cricket ball roughly on the line of leg stump. The deliveries were often short pitched, bouncing as high as the head and torso of the batsman, with four or five fielders close by on the leg side waiting to catch deflections off the bat. The tactics were difficult for batsmen to counter. The only options for a batsman were to duck, carrying the risk of being hit on pitches with irregular bounce, or to play the ball. However, defensive shots risked a catch in the cordon, while hooking carried the danger of being hit in the head at dangerous speeds.Haigh and Frith, p. 70.Piesse, p. 130. The bowling was designed to be intimidatory, causing controversy and ill-feeling among the Australian players and crowds.Douglas, p. 103. The primary target of bodyline was Donald Bradman who had overwhelmed the English bowling in the 1930 Ashes series. Generally regarded as the greatest batsman of all time, Bradman had scored a world record 974 Test runs during that series, a feat which remains unsurpassed.Cashman, pp. 32–35. English cricket commentators feared that Bradman would be unstoppable on good Australian batting wickets in 1932–33 and looked for weaknesses.Frith, pp. 37–39.
On the journey to Australia, Jardine discussed tactics with Larwood and other bowlers, and he may have met senior batsmen Wally Hammond and Herbert Sutcliffe. Some players reported that Jardine told them to hate the Australians to defeat them, while instructing them to refer to Bradman as "the little bastard."Frith, pp. 61, 66. At this stage, he seems to have settled on leg theory, if not full bodyline, as his main tactic.Douglas, pp. 123–24. While Jardine's unfriendly approach and superior manner caused some friction with the press and spectators, the early tour matches were uncontroversial and Larwood and Voce had a light workload in preparation for the Test series.Frith, pp. 69, 90–91.Douglas, p.126. This changed in the match against an Australian XI where the bowlers first used bodyline tactics. Under the captaincy of Bob Wyatt, Jardine having rested from the match, the England attack bowled short and around leg stump, with fielders positioned close by on the leg side to catch any deflections. Wyatt later claimed that this was not pre-planned and he simply passed on to Jardine what happened after the match. The bodyline tactics continued in the next match and several players were hit.Frith, pp. 94, 102. The Australian press were shocked and criticised the hostility of Larwood in particular.Frith, pp. 97–98. Former players joined the criticism by saying that the tactics were ethically wrong. However, at this stage, not everyone was opposed.Frith, pp. 106–07. The Australian Board of Control believed the English bowlers had not bowled unfairly when Bradman expressed his concern to them.Frith, p. 99. Jardine increasingly came into disagreement with tour manager Plum Warner over bodyline as the tour progressed.Frith, p. 98. Warner opposed bodyline but would not speak out against it. However, he was accused of hypocrisy for not taking a stand on either side,Growden, pp. 62–63. particularly after expressing sentiments at the start of the tour that cricket "has become a synonym for all that is true and honest. To say 'that is not cricket' implies something underhand, something not in keeping with the best ideals ... all who love it as players, as officials or spectators must be careful lest anything they do should do it harm."Frith, p. 68. Furthermore, he had criticised bowler Bill Bowes for using short-pitched bowling against Jack Hobbs in a match at the end of the 1932 season.Frith, pp. 49–50.
Earlier tests Jardine's tactics were successful in one respect: in six innings against the tourists ahead of the Tests, Bradman had scored only 103 runs, causing concern among the Australian public who expected much more from him.Frith, p. 105. He missed the first Test, worn out by constant cricket and the ongoing argument.Frith, p. 109. Australia lost heavily by ten wickets as Larwood took ten wickets, as the English bowlers used bodyline intermittently, to the crowd's vocal displeasure.Frith, pp. 117, 120, 126, 134. The only Australian batsman to make an impact was Stan McCabe, who hooked and pulled everything aimed at his upper body,Colman, p. 172. undeterred by the prospect of taking a potentially lethal blow to the head. He scored 187 not out in four hours, an innings described by leading historian David Frith as "among the most stirring innings Test cricket has ever produced".Haigh and Frith, p. 71. Behind the scenes, administrators began to express concerns to each other. Yet the English tactics did not earn universal disapproval; former Australian captain Monty Noble praised the English bowling.Frith, pp. 134–35. For the second Test, Bradman returned to the team after his newspaper employers released him from his contract.Frith, p. 139. England continued to use bodyline tactics. Bradman was dismissed by his first ball in the first innings, bowled by Bowes. Jardine was observed to be so delighted that he clasped his hands above his head and performed a "war dance". This was an extremely unusual reaction in the 1930s, particularly from Jardine who rarely showed any emotion while playing cricket.Bowes, p. 107. However, in the second innings, against the full bodyline attack, Bradman scored an unbeaten century, his only one of the series, which helped Australia to win the match and level the series at one match each.Piesse, p. 132.Frith, pp. 150, 159–63.
The victory was met by widespread public jubilation, as many believed that Australia had found a means of overcoming the tactics. Critics began to believe bodyline was not quite the threat that had been perceived and Bradman's reputation, which had suffered slightly with his earlier failures, was restored. On the other hand, the pitch was slightly slower than was customary throughout the series, and Larwood was suffering from problems with his boots which reduced his effectiveness.Douglas, p. 137.Frith, p. 165.
Woodfull's approach Meanwhile, Bill Woodfull's physical courage, stoic and dignified leadership won him many admirers. He refused to employ retaliatory tactics and did not publicly complain even though he and his men were repeatedly hit— according to Ken Piesse, 34 times in all.Piesse, p. 131. Woodfull, was being encouraged to retaliate to the short-pitched English attack. However, the Australian captain refused to consider doing so.Frith, p. 134. Before the Second Test in Melbourne, he had to wait until minutes before the game before he was confirmed as captain by the selectors, causing the toss to be delayed and leading to speculation that the Australian Board of Control wanted to remove Woodfull because of his refusal to allow his bowlers to retaliate.Haigh and Frith, p. 72. His deputy Victor Richardson advocated retaliation along with several other players.Colman, p. 181. Richardson recalled Woodfull's private response: "There is no way I will be influenced to adopt such tactics which bring such discredit to the game. I know Tim could do it but I am not going to participate in actions that can only hurt the game."
The media advocated the selection of Eddie Gilbert, an indigenous bowler of extreme pace, in order to return the bodyline barrage. In one tour match, Gilbert had bloodied Jardine and left a bruise the size of a saucer.Colman, pp. 172, 179. Another suggested means of retaliation was Laurie Nash,Whitington and Hele, p. 132. a footballer and paceman whose notoriously abrasive personality and aggression saw him regarded as a thug.Cashman, p. 221. However, Woodfull was totally unmoved by such suggestions.Colman, pp. 181–82.
Team selection In the buildup to the third Test, Jardine banned spectators from watching his players at net practice after he had been barracked. The press were unable to watch and therefore give detailed previews before the match started.Frith, p. 170. The tourists' preparations were also hampered by stories in the press that Maurice Tate and Jardine had come to blows, which Tate later denied was true or even realistic.Frith, p. 171. There were questions over the form of Jardine, who had scored just 28 runs in his three innings in the series, Jardine suggested that he should stand down from the team. The rest of the tour selection committee, Wally Hammond, Bob Wyatt, Herbert Sutcliffe and Warner would not consider dropping the captain.Frith, p. 56.Jardine, p. 92. However, taking into account Jardine's nervousness before going in to bat, the senior players persuaded Jardine to open the batting with Sutcliffe.Frith, pp. 170, 173. Sutcliffe and Jardine had occasionally opened together on the 1928–29 tour with some success.Jardine, p. 94.
The English selectors were concerned by the domination of the Australian spinners of Bill O'Reilly and Bert Ironmonger, who had reduced the tourists to strokelessness in the second Test. To counter this, Eddie Paynter was introduced into the side in the hope that his aggressive style and left-handed batting (in contrast to the rest of the batting line-up which was right-handed) would disrupt the Australian bowlers. He replaced the Nawab of Pataudi whose earlier successes, including a century on his Test match debut, were offset by his slow scoring. However, Pataudi's refusal to field close on the leg-side in the bodyline field setting, his friendliness with the opposition and the mutual antipathy between him and Jardine may also have contributed to the loss of his place.Frith, p. 173.Douglas, pp. 132, 148. England made one other change. Although Bowes had dismissed Bradman in the second Test, he took no other wickets; Jardine believed that the Adelaide pitch was not helpful to fast bowlers, while spinner Jack White had taken thirteen wickets in the equivalent match four years previously. Consequently, Hedley Verity replaced Bowes in the team.Jardine, pp. 92–93. Australia made just one change to the team which won the second Test. Leo O'Brien, who had scored 10 and 11 in that match, was relegated to twelfth man and Bill Ponsford returned to the side.Frith, pp. 182, 212.
13 January: Day One