Book Review - "The Bodyline Hypocrisy: Conversations with Harold Larwood" by Michael Arnold

The author shows us that Jardine was the only amateur captain available to England who could see this through. He was a good enough player to be worth a place among strong professionals and had shown his own bravery against fast bowling. He had also finished near the top of the averages over the previous summers and had the total respect of his men. In Larwood he had a bowler at the height of his powers who was frighteningly quick. In the cricketing feudal system of the time, he had no option but to follow the instructions of his captain and did so without question. While Bill Voce and Bill Bowes bowled in the same style, Larwood became the bete noir because he was so much faster, as well as relentlessly accurate.

The author examines the stance of Gubby Allen and Bob Wyatt, amateurs both and keen to remain on the right side of the cricketing establishment with a view to future involvement. The former’s letters, published after his death, called the Nottinghamshire men “swollen-headed, gutless, uneducated miners” while the considerable correspondence of the period mysteriously disappeared from Lord’s files during the Second World War, assumed to be the work of Sir Pelham Warner, then Deputy Secretary of the MCC. His role as tour manager in 1932-33 was far from impressive.

This is a remarkable, incisive book. From examination of the leaden-footed techniques of the Australian batsmen of the series, to that of their own bowlers of more modest pace and looking at the Australian way of life in the period, it is a captivating read. Were Australian team selections at fault? Could the MCC have done more? What political pressures were brought to bear? All this and more can be seen in a book as page-turningly good as a best-selling novel.

Faults? It would have benefited from an index and the ‘conversations’ with Larwood are less evident in the text than I expected when I started it. Yet these are minor quibbles. I had hoped to review this book before now, but found it so fascinating that I decided to read it again to ensure I was right in my original opinion.

I was right first time as it happens. Michael Arnold has produced the most thorough, unbiased account of the series of my experience and I would regard this as one of the best cricket books I have had the pleasure of reading. For once, Harold Larwood and Douglas Jardine can both be seen as unwitting pawns in a much bigger game, rather than Machiavellian sportsmen whose actions came close to damaging relations within the Empire in the approach to the Second World War.

The Bodyline Hypocrisy: conversations with Harold Larwood by Michael Arnold is published by Pitch Publishing and is available from all good book stores. It is currently on Amazon at £10.99.