Across the 1927 and 1928 county seasons the 23-year-old Notts miner Harold Larwood took 100, 138 and then 138 wickets — establishing himself as the fastest bowler in England and securing his place in the 1928-29 Ashes side that would, four years later, take its leg-theory plans to Australia.
Larwood, the son of a Nuncargate miner, had been signed by Nottinghamshire in 1923. His county captain, Arthur Carr, had identified him as the fastest bowler in the second eleven and accelerated his promotion. By 1928 he was the central wicket-taker for the third-placed county.
Larwood had played his first Championship season in 1924 and broken into the England side in June 1926 against Australia at Lord's. The 1927 and 1928 county seasons were the period in which he became the leading English fast bowler. In 1927 he took 100 wickets at 17.31 in his first 100-wicket season; in 1928 he took 138 at 17.55 and was the leading wicket-taker in the country. Wisden named him one of its Five Cricketers of the Year for 1927.
His pace, action and stamina were the most-discussed in English cricket. He bowled with a 23-pace approach, a perfect side-on action and a delivery faster than anyone in England since Tom Richardson in the 1890s. He was 5 ft 7 in tall — small for a fast bowler — but the rhythm and the late swerve made him close to unplayable on receptive surfaces. The 1928 county season produced the figures that secured his Ashes selection: 138 wickets, including 9 for 41 against Lancashire at Old Trafford.
The 1928-29 Ashes was the first Ashes win in Australia for 17 years. Larwood took 18 wickets in five Tests at 40.22 — modest figures by his later standards, but enough on flat Australian wickets to confirm his role as England's pace spearhead. The plans for 1932-33, formed at Lord's by Pelham Warner and Douglas Jardine, would centre on Larwood from the outset.
1924: Larwood's first Championship season
1926: Test debut v Australia at Lord's
1927: 100 wickets at 17.31; named Wisden Cricketer of the Year
1928: 138 wickets at 17.55; selected for 1928-29 Ashes
1928-29: 18 Test wickets in Ashes; England win 4-1
1923
Larwood signed by Nottinghamshire
1926
Test debut at Lord's
1927
First 100-wicket county season
1928
138 wickets; selected for 1928-29 Ashes
1928-29
18 wickets in Ashes; England win 4-1
“I have not seen a faster bowler in England since W.G.'s time. He could be the answer to Australia in 1928-29.”
Larwood was the leading English fast bowler for the next five years. The 1932-33 Bodyline tour was built around him; his match figures of 4 for 121 across Australia's first innings of the Adelaide Test (after a Bert Oldfield head injury) made him the central figure in the most controversial Test series in cricket history. He played his last Test in 1933.
1927-28 was the period in which Larwood went from promising county quick to England's pace spearhead, and the foundation of the bowling persona that four years later would change the laws of cricket.
Larwood is the most famous English fast bowler of the inter-war era. The 1927-28 county seasons in which he made his name remain the textbook example of a young pace bowler maturing through county cricket and into Test cricket.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.