IN SHINING ARMOUR

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 77, 13 March 1933, Page 7

IN SHINING ARMOUR

BATSMAN’S INTENTION. WILL PLAY BODY-LINERS. London, March 2. An armour-clad batsman really may be seen on English cricket grounds next season, if the Gloucestershire captain, B. H. Lyon, carries out his quite serious intention to defeat bodylino bowling. The Australians should have worn armour, official protests are no good, he told the “Daily Mail.” He declares that he is so convinced that leg theory is opposed to the best interests of the game that he is prepared to go to extreme lengths to prevent it obtaining a permanent hold on county cricket. “I intend to wear armour if leg theory is pursued this summer. I tried to get some made when Gloucestershire played Nottingham at Trent Bridge in 1932, but I could not get it in time. I would wear thin steel body armour so slanted that the ball would fly off, also a steel-lined and visored crash helmet from which the ball would glance to the boundary. I ought to be able to rely on at least twelve runs an over in body byes. “I would remove the armour at the end of each bodyline over and hand it to the umpire to hold. There is no rule against such protection. It would make the game a farce, but it would kill leg theory. “The short-leg fieldsman would have to be insured against damage from balls cannoning off the steel plate.”