Six months after Bodyline, Learie Constantine and Manny Martindale opened up with sustained leg-theory bouncers at Douglas Jardine in the Old Trafford Test. Jardine, captaining England, stood up and made 127 — his only Test century — proving, at considerable physical cost, that he could face the tactic he had unleashed on Australia.
Bodyline had ended in February. The MCC had condemned 'direct attack' bowling. West Indies' selectors, watching that controversy, decided to test how England — and Jardine — would react when the same tactic came back.
West Indies, on their second tour of England, had a fast attack of Constantine and Martindale and a captain — Jackie Grant — willing to use it. With England's Bodyline still raw in public memory, Grant set a leg-side field and unleashed short bowling at Hammond, Walters and finally Jardine.
Hammond was struck on the chin and retired hurt. Walters, leading off, was caught hooking. Jardine came in at 134 for 3, took blow after blow on the body — Wisden noted bruising 'from shoulder to thigh' — and refused to flinch. He played mostly off the back foot, hooking sparingly and surviving several short-pitched overs that drew gasps from the Manchester crowd. He reached his hundred in 305 minutes and went on to 127, by some distance the slowest and most stoic Test century of his career.
West Indies made 375 and 225, England 374 and 130 for 4. The match was drawn but the cricketing point had been made: leg-theory bouncing at high pace was painful, dangerous and broadly unpopular regardless of who delivered it.
Hammond struck on the chin; retires hurt.
Walters caught hooking off Constantine.
Jardine bats over five hours; bruised across body.
Reaches hundred in 305 minutes — only Test century of his career.
Out for 127; match drawn.
Public mood begins to harden against short bowling.
22 Jul 1933
WI 375 all out; Constantine 31, Headley 169 not out.
24 Jul
Hammond hit retiring hurt; Jardine in at 134-3.
24 Jul, stumps
Jardine 73 not out, deeply bruised.
25 Jul
Reaches hundred in 305 min; out 127.
26 Jul
Match drawn.
“He took it like a man.”
The MCC accelerated discussions on the law that became the 1935 'direct attack' rule. Constantine, already a Lancashire League professional, kept Test cricket only sparingly; Jardine never captained England in another home Test, retiring from international cricket the following year.
The most pointed reply to Bodyline — Jardine, having set the field, took the medicine without complaint and made a defiant century.
The Manchester Test is the case study cited in every account of Bodyline's afterlife. The image of Jardine, arms folded, refusing to retreat, became one of cricket's stoic icons; his critics retained their critique, but conceded the personal courage.
India vs Pakistan
1996-03-09
On March 9, 1996, Pakistan's Aamer Sohail cut Venkatesh Prasad for four, then pointed his bat at the boundary as if to say 'I'll do it again'. Next ball Prasad bowled him, then animatedly waved him off the field. The send-off became the defining image of the India-Pakistan 1996 World Cup quarter-final, won by India by 39 runs.
England vs West Indies
1954-04-01
Fred Trueman's 1953-54 tour of the West Indies under Len Hutton was a personal disaster. The 22-year-old Yorkshire fast bowler clashed with hosts, opponents, umpires and even his own captain. At the end of the tour MCC withheld his Good Conduct Bonus — a public censure that probably cost him his place on the next two overseas tours and which Trueman resented for the rest of his life.
Australia
1912-03-21
Six of Australia's most senior cricketers — Warwick Armstrong, Victor Trumper, Clem Hill, Tibby Cotter, Vernon Ransford and Hanson Carter — refused to tour England for the 1912 Triangular Tournament after the Board of Control insisted on appointing its own manager rather than the players' choice, Frank Laver.