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Bodyline, It almost ended a beautiful friendship.
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman. A bodyline delivery was one where the cricket ball was pitched short so as to rise towards the body of the batsman on the line of the leg stump, in the hope of creating leg-side deflections that could be caught by one of several fielders in the quadrant of the field behind square leg. This was considered by many to be intimidatory and physically threatening, to the point of being unfair in a game once supposed to have gentlemanly traditions, but commercialisation of the game has subsequently tended to elevate the principle of 'win at all costs' above traditional ideals of sportsmanship. While bodyline was successful as a tactic (England regained the Ashes with a 4–1 margin), Australian crowds regarded it as vicious and unsporting. The controversy reached its peak during the second day of the Third Test. On 14 January, an all-time record Adelaide Oval crowd of 50,962 watched Australia finish off England's first innings. Shortly after the start of Australia's innings, Larwood, bowling to a conventional field setting, struck Woodfull an agonising blow under his heart with a short, lifting delivery. Woodfull was struck when he was bent over his bat and wicket, and not when upright as often imagined. As Woodfull bent down over his bat in pain for several minutes, an image that became one of the defining symbols of the series, the huge crowd began jeering, hooting and verbally abusing the English team.The English captain Jardine reacted by saying "Well bowled, Harold." Tension and feelings ran so high that a riot was narrowly averted as police stationed themselves between the players and enraged spectators. Jardine then ordered his team to move to bodyline positions immediately after Woodfull's injury. Jardine wrote that Larwood had asked for the field, while Larwood said that it was Jardine's decision. The capacity Saturday afternoon crowd viewed this as hitting a man when he was down. Journalist–cricketer Dick Whitington wrote that Jardine's actions were seen as "an unforgivable crime in Australian eyes and certainly no part of cricket". Mass hooting and jeering occurred after almost every ball. Whitington noted that "[Umpire] Hele believes that had what followed occurred in Melbourne the crowd would have leapt the fence and belaboured the English captain, Larwood, and possibly the entire side". Some English players later expressed fears that a large-scale riot could break out and that the police would not be able to stop the irate home crowd, who were worried that Woodfull or Bradman could be killed, from attacking them. During the over, another rising Larwood delivery knocked the bat out of Woodfull's hands. He battled it out for 89 minutes, collecting more bruises before Allen bowled him for 22. Later in the day, the English team manager Pelham Warner visited the Australian dressing room to express his sympathies to Woodfull. Woodfull had remained calm in public, refusing to complain about Jardine's tactics. Woodfull's abrupt response was meant to be private, but it was leaked to the press and became the most famous quotation of this tumultuous period in cricket history: I don't want to see you, Mr Warner. There are two teams out there, one is playing cricket. The other is making no attempt to do so. Woodfull reportedly added "This game is too good to be spoilt. It's time some people got out of it", hinting that he might withdraw his team from competition in protest. Australia's Leo O'Brien later reported that Warner was close to tears following Woodfull's rebuke. The leaking to the press of Woodfull's comments to Warner angered the Australian captain. He had intended the comments to be private, and ill feeling grew in the Australian camp as speculation about who leaked the incident to the press grew and many of the team privately pointed the finger at Bradman. (Bradman strenuously denied that he had been responsible to his dying day; others, including Plum Warner, pointed the finger at Bradman's team-mate and journalist, Jack Fingleton. However, in his autobiography, Fingleton claimed that Sydney Sun reporter Claude Corbett had received the information from Bradman.) The next day, Larwood fractured wicket-keeper Bert Oldfield's skull. This occurred when Oldfield mis-hit a hook, which flew from the top edge off a traditional non-bodyline ball; Oldfield later admitted it was his fault. At the end of the fourth day's play the Australian Board of Control for Cricket sent the following cable to the MCC in London: Bodyline bowling has assumed such proportions as to menace the best interests of the game, making protection of the body by the batsman the main consideration. This is causing intensely bitter feeling between the players, as well as injury. In our opinion it is unsportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once it is likely to upset the friendly relations existing between Australia and England. The situation escalated into a diplomatic incident between the countries as the MCC—supported by the British public and still of the opinion that their fast leg theory tactic was harmless—took serious offence at being branded "unsportsmanlike" and demanded a retraction. Many people saw bodyline as fracturing an international relationship that needed to remain strong. Jardine, and by extension the entire English team, threatened to withdraw from the fourth and fifth Tests unless the Australian Board withdrew the accusation of unsporting behaviour. Public reaction in both England and Australia was outrage directed at the other nation. The Governor of South Australia, Alexander Hore-Ruthven, who was in England at the time, expressed his concern to British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs James Henry Thomas that this would cause a significant impact on trade between the nations. The standoff was settled only when Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons met with members of the Australian Board and outlined to them the severe economic hardships that could be caused in Australia if the British public boycotted Australian trade. Given this understanding, the Board withdrew the allegation of unsportsmanlike behaviour two days before the fourth Test, thus saving the tour. The English team continued to bowl bodyline in the remaining two Tests, but slower pitches meant the Australians, although frequently bruised, sustained no further serious injuries. England won the last three Tests to take the series 4–1....,......... The cache has been placed in Larwood Lane. I don't know if it was named after Harold Larwood who emigrated to Australia in 1953. He lived in Sydnew for the remainder of his life and died in 1995 aged 90.
Additional Hints
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Gur bssvpvny YBT vf uvqqra vafvqr gur pnpur, ohg cyrnfr oevat lbhe bja crapvy.
ERZBIR PNPUR SEBZ GUR OBGGBZ ABG GUR GBC.