Bodyline debate 80 years on
The BBC takes a look back at 80 years of Bodyline
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Leg theory worked brilliantly as England won the 1932/33 Ashes series 4-1. But the revolutionary tactics of intimidating bowling caused quite a stir. Law changes followed and the morality of England's plan was called into question. Yet it paved the way for steam-billowing fast bowlers to come. There were no complaints from Australia when their bowlers were terrorising batsman in the 1970s and the West Indies bowlers that followed were the more fearsome of all time. The BBC takes a look back at 80 years of Bodyline.
Never before or since that moment, 80 years ago to the day, on 16 January 1933, had cricket - and arguably any other sport - seen a contest which fired such anger, which reached so far and echoed for so long, as the Bodyline tour.
Bodyline used a more aggressive but still legal method of bowling.
"In Australia to this day, the word Bodyline carries the stench of underhand or unsportsmanlike behaviour; with the series regarded as Australian cricket's most controversial," said David Studham from the Australian National Sports Museum.
The view of the MCC, which organised the tour, is slightly different. The curator of its museum, Adam Chadwick, said: "Was Bodyline unsportsmanlike? By the standards of the day, yes. By the standards of now, it was a stroke of genius."