The Reverse Sweep

Ashes 100-1: 33 - Bodyline and nine other Ashes controversies

 
Throughout the history of the oldest and longest running international sporting contest, the Ashes have not been without their moments of controversy, most famously of course in the ‘Bodyline’ series of 1932-33 when Douglas Jardine’s leg theory strategy to nullify Bradman and his general animosity to all things Australian nearly led to a diplomatic incident between the two countries.

So to mark us reaching number 33 in our Ashes countdown, here are ten of the best Ashes controversies we’ve managed to dig out from the history books:

1. “Bodyline”

The most rancorous cricket series of them all. It slid from crisis to crisis and having at one time reached governmental level looked set to be called off. An unrepentant Jardine spoke openly of his dislike of all things Australian and there were near-riots at Adelaide. Despite overwhelming pressure the immovable Jardine refused to change his strategy and England won 4-1. The controversy ran on though and prompted rule changes, which effectively outlawed Bodyline tactics. Larwood never played for England again and Jardine’s captaincy ended before the teams next met in England in 1934.

2. Fisticuffs and withdrawals

Today’s PCB may be bad but 100 years ago the Australian Board of Control (BOC) was even worse. A meeting to confirm the touring party to England in 1912 resulted in a fight between Australia’s captain Clem Hill and BOC representative Peter McAllister. As part of the fallout Hill and five other leading players - Warwick Armstrong, Victor Trumper, Tibby Cotter, Hanson Carter and Vernon Ransford - refused to tour and Australia were soundly beaten.

3. Vandals stopped play

The last day of the third Test of the 1975 series at Headingley was evenly poised with Australia 225 for 3 chasing 420 to win the series and so retain the Ashes. However, the pitch was vandalised overnight by protesters campaigning for the release of convicted robber George Davis. Captains Tony Grieg and Ian Chappell both reluctantly agreed the game could not continue, although rain would have meant a draw in any case. Davis was freed the following year but was soon behind bars again after being caught red-handed.

4. Captain Pratt

Ricky Ponting’s frustration at England’s bowlers continually taking breaks from the field of play during the 2005 series boiled over at Nottingham when he was run out by substitute fielder Gary Pratt. As the video shows as he left the field, Ponting visibly swore and gesticulated at the England dressing room. England won a tight match by three wickets after collapsing when chasing a small target.

 

5. The Packer Affair

The 1977 series in England was completely overshadowed by the furore surrounding World Series Cricket, news of which broke as the Australian side arrived. Mike Brearley, who replaced the sacked WSC player recruiter and ringleader Tony Grieg, led England to a 3-0 win against a divided Australian side full of soon-to-be Packer players. International cricket would never be the same again.

6. The Aluminium Bat

Although not strictly an Ashes controversy due to the Ashes not being at stake in the three match 1979-80 series, the episode of Dennis Lillee’s aluminium bat is still worthy of inclusion. England captain Brearley, sporting a beard that made him look an Ayatollah, strongly objected and two proud men went toe to toe. The umpires sided with Brearley and in frustration, Lillee flung the bat across the WACA pitch. Priceless.

7. Bottles and walk-offs

After a long and drawn out series, the 1970-71 encounter went down to a decider at Melbourne. In a tight match, England’s John Snow was warned for short-pitched bowling after striking Terry Jenner on the head. The crowd didn’t like it either and Snow was grabbed by a spectator and bottles and cans were thrown at him. England captain Ray Illingworth responded by leading his side from the field. They returned after warnings from officials, and with their resolve emboldened won by 62 runs to regain the Ashes.

8. Chuckers and draggers

England were thrashed 4-0 in 1958-59, but much of their ire was reserved for what they considered the illegality of some of the bowlers they faced – throwing in the case of Ian Meckiff and dragging by the ‘Blond Giant’ Gordon Rorke. Later events would suggest that England were right where Meckiff was concerned when he was called for throwing four times in his only over in the first test of the 1963/64 home series with South Africa.

9. Gower goes to the theatre

The 1989 series was a disaster for England and captain David Gower regularly felt the heat of some pretty hostile press conferences. After a dismal third day at Lord’s in the second test, Gower answered a few questions before deciding it was all too much and stood up to announce that he had tickets for the theatre to see Anything Goes, that the taxi was waiting, and then proceeded to walk out stage left leaving a bemused press lost for words. Even though Gower returned after the rest day and scored a hundred, his reign was doomed. As were England.

10. 500-1

Our last controversy would have caused headlines across the World today, but in a more innocent 1981 rarely raised a whimper. With England crashing to seeming defeat at Headingley in 1981,Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh couldn’t resist the odds of 500/1 for the England win. Then came the heroics of Botham and Willis, which led England to the most unlikeliest of victories. Rightfully, no-one questioned the efforts of Lillee and Marsh though who both battled to the end in an attempt to lose their stake.

Where next?

Heroes: Douglas Jardine

Heroes: Dennis Lillee

Heroes: David Gower

Ashes 100-1: 49 - All-time Australian Ashes XI: 4 and 5

 
Whereas selecting the batsman to fill the number three role in an all-time Australian Ashes XI (see story here) was an extremely facile task, picking who is going to follow Bradman at four and five is a nigh on impossible exercise.

The longlist includes a plethora of great Australian batsmen in Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Greg Chappell, Neil Harvey, Clem Hill, Mark Waugh, Stan McCabe, Ricky Ponting and Charlie Macartney. Indeed, one could argue that you could put the above names in a hat and select any two of these to join the already selected Trumper, Morris and Bradman, and you would have an immensely strong batting line-up.

But for the purposes of this exercise we do need to pick two. So we will start by discarding Hill and Mark Waugh immediately - not because they weren't good players, but unlike the others they probably fell into the 'very good' rather than 'great' category. As Jimmy Ormond once famously retorted, Mark Waugh wasn't even the best cricketer in his own family.

So that leaves us with seven. Harvey's record against England (2416 runs at 38.34) was markedly worse than his overall test record (he averaged over 48) and as it is an Ashes XI we are selecting then fine player as he was that means he misses out.

Six left, which means four must miss out. But which four? Macartney (1640 Ashes runs at 43.15) was reputedly a devastating batsman who regularly demoralised English bowlers and achieved the notable feat of scoring a test hundred before lunch at Headingley in 1921. McCabe (1931 at 48.27) played two of the greatest Ashes innings ever at Sydney (187 not out) in the opening test of the Bodyline series and then 232 not out at Trent Bridge in 1938. The latter prompted Bradman to remark "If I could play an innings like that, I'd be a proud man". That's a pretty good reference.

Moving on to more recent times, Chappell (2154 at 43.95 with eight hundreds) and Ponting (2363 at 48.22 and also with eight hundreds) are formidable batsmen and like Macartney and McCabe have excellent records against England. All would be in contention for an all-time Australian XI, but when it comes to the Ashes it is the two remaining batsmen that stand out from the pack.

After Bradman, Border (3222 at 55.22) and Waugh (3173 at 58.75) are Australia's highest run scorers against England. Both offer similar gritty and determined styles, which admittedly is a reason for perhaps only picking one of them. But first Border is left handed so complements Waugh, and secondly a battle with the English is what brought the best out of both of them.

After being the losing captain in 1985 and 1986/87, you can bet your bottom dollar that Border would rather die than lose to the Poms again. And Waugh is built from similar granite, has ten Ashes hundreds - behind only Bradman and Hobbs - and was a thorn in England's side for such a long period that it is impossible to leave him out. Who can forget him coming back from injury at The Oval in 2001 and on one leg making yet another hundred? So after a lot of pondering it is Border and Waugh that get the vote.

Where next?

10 reasons why The Don is the greatest Ashes cricketer of them all

The World Test XI of the noughties

All-time Australian Ashes XI - The Openers

Ashes 100-1: 57 - All-time Australian Ashes XI: Number 3

 
As we wrote when selecting the openers (see Australian openers and England openers), picking all-time Australia and England Ashes XIs is certainly a difficult undertaking. Trying to get down to eleven names a side from the many great players that have graced over 130 years of frequent and brilliant cricket is going to probably cause us a few sleepless nights. However, picking the batsman who will come in at number three and captain Australia is an extremely facile task.

Whilst the record of several other Australian batsmen at first drop merit a mention, especially Ricky Ponting (2057 runs at 54.13), but also Clem Hill (1903 runs at 35.90), David Boon (1693 at 52.90), Ian Chappell (1542 at 45.35) and Charlie Macartney (1260 at 63.00), there is only one possible choice.

That man is of course one Donald George Bradman - the greatest batsman ever and probably the best cricketer of them all.

As we've written before, Bradman was simply a phenomenon. Australians tend to over-use the phrase 'a once in a generation cricketer', but for the Don it would be an understatement. His Ashes record reads as 5028 runs at 89.78 from 37 tests. He scored 19 hundreds (including 8 doubles - 2 of them triples). Indeed, he scored nearly 1500 runs more than the second best run accumulator in Ashes history, Jack Hobbs.

At first drop, Bradman's average was even higher at 93.02, which hardly makes it a surprise therefore that England only won two Ashes series when Bradman was in situ for Australia - his debut series in 1928/29 (when an Australian side in the process of being rebuilt was hammered 4-1 by A.P.F Chapman's England side) and of course the infamous Bodyline series of 1932/33. It is a tribute to Bradman, that Douglas Jardine's strategy in the latter series was entirely based around nullifying the Don. Despite this, Bradman still averaged 56.57, which although a poor performance by his standards would still have been considered a good return for any other batsman in history.

We have also selected Bradman as captain of our Australian XI. He was a naturally attacking captain who only lost three matches in his 24 tests as captain and never lost a series. Australia actually lost his first two matches as captain in the 1936/37 Ashes, but no problem, Bradman scored 270, 212 and 169 in the last three tests as Australia bounced back to win the series 3-2 (see full story in Back From The Dead). The only other test he lost as captain was at The Oval in 1938 when Len Hutton scored 364 and England 903 for seven. The Don didn't get an opportunity to respond as he had been carried from the field injured. If he had, we wouldn't have bet against him beating Hutton's new mark.

Bradman never lost another test as captain and bowed out at the zenith by leading the 1948 Invincibles - perhaps the greatest test side in the history of the game. And did the captaincy affect Bradman's batting? Not a bit of it. He actually averaged 101.51 with 14 hundreds from his 24 tests as captain.

As we said the most straight-forward pick of them all.

Where next?

Bradman and Hammond: Two Batting Phenomenons

Archie Jackson: The Other Bradman

The 30 Greatest Batsmen Ever: Part 1 (30-21), Part 2 (20-11), Part 3 (10-1) 

Ashes 100-1: 87 - Nelson and the Devil's Number

87 is known as the "Devil's Number" in Australian cricket as it is thirteen shy of a hundred, so it seems apt that with 87 days to go until the Ashes begins in Brisbane on 25th November, we look today at Australian batsmen who have fallen on this dreaded number in our Ashes 100-1 countdown.

Interestingly, research conducted in Australia suggests that the belief that 87 is an unlucky number where cricket is concerned is a bit of a fallacy, as batsmen have got out more often on the surrounding numbers. But try telling that to Clem Hill. Of the five Australian scores of 87 in Ashes encounters (see table below), Hill has two of them. When you factor in that Hill also fell five times in the nervous nineties in Ashes battles - including for 98 and 97 in the same match at Adelaide in 1902, then Hill could have justifiably considered himself an unlucky batsmen.

Scores of 87 in The Ashes by Australian players
Player	Runs	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
SP Jones	87	v England	Manchester	5 Jul 1886
C Hill	87	v England	Melbourne	28-Feb-02
C Hill	87	v England	Sydney	13-Dec-07
J Ryder	87	v England	Adelaide	01-Feb-29
KR Stackpole	87	v England	Adelaide	29-Jan-71

The English equivalent of 87 is 111 or 'Nelson'; although why anyone would consider getting out for 111 bad luck is another thing. Nelson is apparently thought to refer to Lord Nelson's lost eye, arm and leg (although of course, Nelson never lost a leg) and was popularised by the late umpire David Shepherd, who used to raise a leg whenever the score was on Nelson, or double nelson (222), triple nelson (333) etc.

Only three England batsmen have fallen for 111 in Ashes encounters, suggesting that as far as batsmen are concerned this is not an unlucky number for England.

Scores of 111 in The Ashes by English players
Player	Runs	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
M Leyland	111*	v Australia	Melbourne	01-Jan-37
WJ Edrich	111	v Australia	Leeds	22-Jul-48
TW Graveney	111	v Australia	Sydney	25-Feb-55

Indeed it could be argued that 111 is more unlucky for Australia given that this was the total they made when chasing 130 in the infamous Headingley test of 1981. Not that this Englishman would like to remind all Australians of that particular match, of course! 

Ashes 100-1: 95 - Nervous nineties

In our Ashes 100-1 feature today, we focus on those batsmen who have fallen most times during the nervous nineties in Ashes encounters.

Up until the beginning of the current Oval test, 87 batsmen (see full list here) have fallen one or more times in the dreaded nineties with the great Australian batsmen Clem Hill topping the list with five scores between 90 and 99. Hill even managed to fall for 98 and 97 in the same match at Adelaide in 1902 having also hit 99 at Melbourne in the same series. Thankfully for Hill he did manage four centuries against England during his test career and as the Adelaide test was won, no doubt that stemmed his disappointment.

Steve Waugh has four scores in the nineties to add to his ten hundreds in Ashes contests, including two not outs when he ran out of partners at Perth in 1995 (when his brother acting as a runner for Craig McDermott ran himself out) to finish on 99 not out and Melbourne in the same series.

The only other cricketer other than Hill to have hit two nineties in the same Ashes match was Frank Woolley, who made 95 and 93 at Lord's in 1921.

The list of batsmen who have made two or more scores of 90 in the Ashes is below:

Player	90's	NO	Scores
C Hill (Aus)	5	0	96 (Sydney 1897), 99 (Melbourne 1902), 98 & 97 (Adelaide 1902), 98 (Adelaide 1912)
SR Waugh (Aus)	4	2	99* (Perth 1995), 96 (Sydney 1999), 94* (Melbourne 1994), 92 (Manchester 1989)
DC Boon (Aus)	4	1	94 (Lord's 1989), 94* (Melbourne 1990), 97 (Sydney 1991), 93 (Manchester 1993)
PBH May (Eng)	3	0	91 (Melbourne 1954), 92 (Sydney 1959), 95 (Manchester 1961)
ER Dexter (Eng)	2	0	99 (Brisbane 1962), 93 (Melbourne 1962)
WM Lawry (Aus)	2	0	98 (Brisbane 1962), 94 (The Oval 1964)
FE Woolley (Eng)	2	0	95, 93 (Lord's 1921)
AW Greig (Eng)	2	0	96 (Lord's 1975), 91 (Lord's 1977)
EH Hendren (Eng)	2	0	92 (Adelaide 1925), 95 (Melbourne 1929)
GHS Trott (Aus)	2	0	92 (The Oval, 1893), 95 (Melbourne 1894)
TJE Andrews (Aus)	2	0	94 (The Oval 1921), 92 (Leeds 1921)
MC Cowdrey (Eng)	2	1	93 (Leeds, 1961), 93* (The Oval 1964)
AC Bannerman (Aus)	2	0	94 (Sydney 1883), 91 (Sydney 1892)
MJ Clarke (Aus)	2	0	91 (Lord's 2005), 93 (Leeds 2009)
RW Marsh (Aus)	2	1	92* (Melbourne 1971), 91 (Manchester 1972)
TW Hayward (Eng)	2	0	90 (Adelaide 1902), 91 (Sydney 1903)