Douglas Jardine

 I have to agree with you Manning - Jardine represents a black mark on English cricketing history , albeit after a successful sojourn downunder. His absolute hatred for Australians was scandalous and the old adage of English fairplay was completely destroyed by his antics.
             His reaction of "well bowled" Harold" after Larwood felled Woodfull was a disgrace and maybe untrue though - he rarely spoke to the professionals and if he did they were addressed by their surnames!

    England had the side to win that series without resorting to tactics that became outlawed (rightly so too). Bradman still averaged 60-odd , but in Larwood and Voce , the visitors had two potent strike weapons that were more than capable of bowling Australia out twice.

   Having said that , the series was absolutely rivetting and I found myself caught up in all the furore when watching footage from that bygone era. Seeing batsmen hit is the most shocking part of the great game - but also one of the most exciting.

   As for the English fans wearing Jardine T shirts - I'd say that is to get a reaction , most English cricketing fans have no great affection for that boorish snob of the old school tie brigade.


Edited by Sledger - 07 December 2006 at 5:38am

Sledger - I'm glad to hear your comments.

I have no doubt that those shirts are for a laugh, and not an endorsement. We've held the Bodyline grudge for so long now that it should be fair game.

Similarly, at the soccer World Cup Australians riled up the touring England fans with a chant about Shane Warne rogering their wives while they were away. It's not an approval of his infidelity, it's just for a laugh.

I find it hilarious that people born decades after that series still can be so uptight about it, as is the notion that a nation should be ashamed.

Besides I would be pretty confident that most of the slurs on Jardine (such as "well bowled Harold") are nothing more than myths aimed at demonising the man.

Jardine always defended his tactics and in a book he wrote about the tour described allegations that the England bowlers directed their attack with the intention of causing physical harm as stupid and patently untruthful.

It was a tactic and it worked, end of story.

It's worth mentioning that the West Indies used similar tactics against England in a Test in 1933 - with one D R Jardine scoring 127

Originally posted by Clobber It was a tactic and it worked, end of story.

   So it was Clobs , but was it absolutely necessary?  The aura around Bradman then was unbelievable , but he still got out like any other mortal , albeit a lot later than most!  I still stand by my earlier comments - with the fantastic Harold Larwood in the ranks , England would've beaten Australia without resorting to tactics of such a base nature.

EXACTELY, in the Best XI thread nobody seemed to agree with me that there were express bowlers in the past and that uncovered pitches just made it harder for batsmen like Bradman.

My word. A couple of years back the black the curator was unable to get any of this black soil which sets as hard as a rock.. now the pitch has slowed down, does not bounce as much and now offers assitance to batsmen and spinners.

The pitches here offer something to all, but it was nice having a really fast track on one side of the country, and a spinning track on that other side.

I dont see whats wrong with bowling to a plan. No one died did they, and they won and limited Bradman to an average of 56. Not saying hes a great guy or anything, I'm just saying, if he hadnt done it then it could happen today.

i agree completely, a black mark on english cricket is stupid. He was a clever captain who prevented the best team from winning, theres literally nothing wrong with that.

Originally posted by Sledger The whole principal of leg theory was completely against the spirit of the game of cricket

People were saying otherwise about Murali incident. today no one cares about the so called "spirit". Main crcketing nations have killed it long back. Rewind to Thompsons "blood on the pitch" comment. Is it complying with the so called "spirit"?

Thommo was just pumping himself up. The spirit in the Ashes is alive, barring the time when England used Gary Pratt in the last series.

Originally posted by Sledger                             I re-iterate - England would have won that series without resorting to dirty tactics , Larwood was that good.