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To be fair though Anchor, all the whinging has come from the media and ex players. The current touring party have copped it sweet and acknowledged that Australia have been too good. They just need to stay away from late night bars.

In order to appease Athers, Monty, Uncle Tom Cobley and all, Australia should agree to bat only once during the Boxing Day Test.
Oh, that's right, we did exactly that at the WACA and still won.

They never bowlled bodyline to the tail in 1932-33. The only reason Australia never retaliatted was because we never had any bloody fast bowllers -- similar to England today. As everybody knows, England's real problem is not that its tail can't play bumppers, rather, it is the inability of ist bowllers to take wickets. Dysfunctional as England's batting line up has been, it has made just about enough runs to win the seires if the the bowllers were able to compete against Smith.

ArkRoyal wrote: They never bowlled bodyline to the tail in 1932-33. The only reason Australia never retaliatted was because we never had any bloody fast bowllers -- similar to England today. As everybody knows, England's real problem is not that its tail can't play bumppers, rather, it is the inability of ist bowllers to take wickets. Dysfunctional as England's batting line up has been, it has made just about enough runs to win the seires if the the bowllers were able to compete against Smith.

Have to disagree ark, albeit because of listening to Wayne Clark and Kim Hughes. They discussed this the other morning and said that we did have the bowlers to retaliate, but our captain would not allow it. Also, as I said in another post, Michael Johnson said that the Aussies had copped this in the past, but didn’t whinge. The tail Enders just went out and learned to bat, something the Poms haven’t done.

Hi Shark: No we did not mate -- Grimmett, Fleetwood-Smith and O'Reilly were our bowllers. The one seamer we had was a bloke called Tim Wall, whom nobody has heard of for a reason.

Tim Wall didn't have a bad record in Test cricket, Ark, taking 56 wickets in his 18 Tests, albeit at the expensive average of 35.89.
Of course, Wall is best know for being the first of only three bowlers to take all 10 wickets in a Sheffield Shield innings, coincidentally between the Third and Fourth Tests of the 1932-33 Bodyline series.
Tim Wall: 10-36 for SA versus NSW at the SCG in February 1933
Peter Allan: 10-61 for Qld versus Vic at the MCG in January 1966
Ian Brayshaw: 10-44 for WA versus Vic at the WACA in October 1967
I believe that Australian-born England paceman Gubby Allen, later to be an MCC bigwig, refused to bowl Bodyline, though he still picked up 21 wickets for the series.

Archie Duda -- all true about Wall. Gubby Allen could stand up to Jardine because he was an amateur, a luxury that someone, such as Larwood, as a professional never had. He relied on cricket for a living and could not afford to get dropped.

There is no doubt that some of the bowlling, particularly by Cummins could be regarded as 'intimidation' under the old law. Twenty, definitely thirty years ago, no one bowlled bumpers at tail enders unless they hung around for half an hour. Anderson was hit in the headd first ball he faced in the last innings saved from injuryonly by his helmet.

People should also keep in mind the 'Jim Higgs incident'. For those whom don't re-call it, military medium L ance Cairns bowlled a bumper to Higgs after he had hang around with Walters. He was caught off the delivery and the umpire re-instated him to the crease, calling a no-ball

Those whom think that the Australian tail would play their own fast bowllers any better than the English are living in a fantasy. How many hat-tricks has Starc taken bowlling against tail enders in the Shield this season? Remind me.

Good point about Gubby Allen, Ark, given this was the era of "Gentlemen and Players".
With the prospect of having to return to a coal mine in Nottingham, it makes perfect sense as to why Harold Larwood followed Douglas Jardine's instructions to the letter.
Perhaps umpires need to enforce the rule against excessive short-pitched bowling, as they did with Lance Cairns against Jim Higgs.
Pretty sure this was the 1980 Boxing Day Test when Doug Walters went on to score a century as a result of Higgs' reprieve.
Who would've predicted that at the same venue, 5-6 weeks later, we'd see the Trevor Chappell underarm saga.
Yes, Mitch Starc dismissed 9-10-Jack in both WA innings at Hurstville Oval.
However, the game is weighted towards the batsman, so I'd hate to see short-pitched bowling banned completely.

Archie Duda -- thanks for the post it made good reading. I have always felt a bit sorry for Harold, because as you know, he and Jardine were black listted, and he ended up moving to Sydney.

I am with you on the fast-bowlling as being central to the game.

Have you ever seen anyone's batting decline as much as Broad's?

Thanks and likewise, Ark.
Interesting that the final test of the Bodyline series was Harold's last and he received a standing ovation from the SCG crowd after making 98.
Did some stats on Chris Broad's batting that back up what you're saying.
After his 169 against Pakistan at Lord's in 2010, Broad had made 1096 runs at an average of 28.10 in 32 Tests, indicating he was a reasonable all-rounder.
In his 80 Tests since, Broad has made 1769 runs at just 17.51 - the figures of a useful tailender