THE CRICKET CONTROVERSY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 4459, 19 October 1933, Page 4

THE CRICKET CONTROVERSY.

In its terse and emphatic advice to Larwood to “shut up,” the Yorkshire Post has rendered a service to the cricketing world, and when the paper states that the exponent of body-line bowling will do as he is told and not what he wants to do, Larwood may be induced to restrain his verbosity. The recent announcement that an Australian cricket team would visit England next year implied that the controversy between the Marylebone Club and the Australian Board of Control over “body-line” bowling had been satisfactorily settled. By his blustering tone Larwood has again made the position difficult for both bodies, and the rebuke by the Yorkshire Post is most timely. It can be said, however, that the honours rest with the Australian Board of Control. Both organisations blundered at the start. If the Board of Control had exercised a little more tact in its first message to the Marylebone Club, the whole matter might have been easier of adjustment. As it was, the Marylebone Club took exception to the tone of the cable sent by the Board of Control, with the result that the matter was not dealt with in a dispassionate manner. It was only when the same system of bowling was resorted to during the English cricket season did its enthusiasts realise that there was something “unsportsmanlike” in such tactics. The captains of a majority of the county clubs soon formed the opinion that it was not in the interests of the game that bowling of this description should be tolerated. It was then that the Marylebone Club was forced to take action by issuing instructions to Jardine, the captain of the English team to visit India, not to allow “body-line” bowling during the tour. These instructions must have proved galling to Jardine, who had approved of the practice during the tour of Australia. It has now been proved that the protest by the Board of Control was well justified, and it is unfortunate that Larwood did not show some restraint when the controlling body had given a decision on the matter. It is to be sincerely hoped that there will be no further arguments on cricket law or cricket ethics, so that the Australian cricketers will receive the same welcome in England next year as they have had in the past.