SILENCE BROKEN

Southland Times, Issue 22009, 8 May 1933, Page 7

SILENCE BROKEN

LARWOOD OPENS OUT AUSTRALIAN CRITICISM BRADMAN AND WOODFULL (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 11.14 p.m.) London, May 7. Larwood, the English fast bowler, in the Sunday Express makes a slashing attack on Australian crowds, the Board of Control, Don Bradman and Woodfull. Under headlines across the whole of the front page, the Sunday Express prints an interview Larwood gave Charles Eade, sporting editor, with a facsimile of Larwood’s letter tipproving of same, after some alteration, and expressing thanks for the cheque received. The amount is not stated. The following is Larwood’s statement.

“Now I can speak. For months I have been muzzled, because my agreement with the Marylebone Club made it impossible for me to write or talk about what happened to me and the rest of the English team in Australia, particularly to me, because most of the temper and venom of the cricket crowds there were directed at my unfortunate head. Yesterday the M.C.C. tour ended, and I was released from the obligation not to let the English public know just what we had to put up with. Until now I had to suffer in silence the taunts and abuse of the crowds in Australia. Not only the crowds either. The newspapers there joined in a campaign to wreck us, but let me start at the beginning. Plan Of Attack. “On the way out, we talked over the plans we should adopt to win back the Ashes. We knew we were up against a stiff task, and that only by a definite scheme could we hope for victory. We decided to adopt leg theory. That is, to concentrate our bowling on the leg stump. It was Jardine who originally had the idea of building for victory with this plan of attack though all the members of the side took part in the discussions which finally led to its adoption. Voce and I were chosen as the two bowlers likely to bring it success, so in bowling as I did I was merely carrying out a pre-arranged plan. In other words I was playing for my side which every cricketer is supposed to do.

“For doing that I had to endure four months’ anger of the crowds, barrackers who knew nothing about the finer points of cricket. Leg theory bowling probably requires more accuracy than any other form. We were able to exploit it with complete success. That’s where the trouble started. The barrackers on the famous Hill at Sydney, and in the cheaper parts of most of the other grounds, particularly Adelaide, were not there to see cricket. They were there to see Australia. That was what they wanted. That was all they wanted. Above all they were there to see Bradman score runs. All the excitement there had been about Bradman’s writings had stirred Australian crowds into believing that Bradman was a super-batsman. We showed that he wasn’t, and the mob didn’t like their idol treated that way. Then there was Woodfull. He was expected to stay at the wicket all day while the others got the runs, and ho was a failure, too. You ask why Woodfull and Bradman couldn’t stand up to my fast lef-theory bowling? Bradman Frightened. “There were two reasons: Woodfull was too slow and Bradman was too frightened! Yes, frightened is the word. Bradman just wouldn’t have it. He was scared of my bowling, and I knew it as everybody did. Time after time he drew away from the ball. If I wasn’t bowling when he came in Jardine put me on at once. It might have been supposed that Woodfull would have tried to quieten the crowd or to indicate in some way that he was not in sympathy with those noisy demonstrators, but he didn’t do so. He was too slow and didn’t like to face me either. Time after time he would duck when the ball didn’t get up at all. Sometimes the ball struck his pads. Ames and I appealed for leg before. These antics were silly and undignified, but coming from the captain, a man of Wood-

full’s long record, they only encouraged the crowd to shout all the more loud-

ly at me. Woodfull and Bradman were failures against fast leg theory bowling. They were upset and the crowds were upset to see their idols fall. Richardson and McCabe played me all right. The wonderful Bradman couldn’t. “Crowd’s Abuse.” “Australia were being beaten so the crowd, not knowing what sportsmanship means, shouted abuse at the men who were winning. Can you imagine my feelings when fifty thousand people booed my every step as I ran to the wicket? Do you know what a bowler thinks about when he realizes he is not only playing the batsmen but the crowd as well? “On the previous tour I was treated the same way and was only twentyfour then. I must say the barracking, an orgy of shouts upset me. I was so distressed; in fact I couldn’t do justice to myself or my side and couldn’t bowl properly. It was not the conditions or the ground or the batsmen who beat me four years ago, it was the crowd. They tried to put me off and wanted to see me fail. They tried to upset me and succeeded. The barrackcrs beat me in 1928-9. This time I was four years older and more experienced and tougher. The crowd couldn’t upset me by their unfairness or hostility. When they jeered and booed it merely made me grit my teeth and bowl harder than ever. Of course I said a few things about them under my breath but took cafe not to let them see I was affected. The first tour I was upset. This time I was inspired. Next time I shall probably enjoy it if I am selected. I shall be ready and willing to go again. I know I have been reported to have said that I would never make another tour. It’s a lie I never said it. “Many newspapers tried to put words into my mouth, but I have been loyal to my agreement with the M.C.C., and have not spoken out till now. A group of journalists’ came to interview me at Suez and offered to pay me. I could have had £lOOO pounds that day but I wouldn’t sell them anything. You are the first newspaper man I have given an interview to. I am telling you my own story, just as I would tell it to my friends. “Newspapers Up Against Me.” “The newspapers in Australia were up against me just as much as the barrackers. They spread stories of quarrels in the English team, even before we arrived. They were all lies. There was no trouble at all in the team. This campaign only caused the English players to stick together all the more. I take off my hat to Jardine for the way he stuck the abuse hurled at him by the crowd. And what abuse! And what a crowd of people who only watched cricket. England cannot imagine the bitterness of the disappointed mob of cricket fans in Australia. Yet they were allowed to dominate the game in Australia to such extent that the Board of Control protested at our methods. The Board of Control! What a title! They cannot even control their own crowds if they wanted to. Half the members couldn’t tell you the weight of a cricket ball. When the Australians come here they are treated as sportsmen. When we go to Australia we have to suffer cheap wit and abuse from an unsportsmanlike gang which wouldn’t be tolerated for a moment here. The Australian people seemed to be out to throw us off our game. When they failed they shouted insults. “Bodylinc Rubbish.”

“They made a lot of hot air about ‘bodylirie’ bowling. That’s rubbish if you like. If I bowled at the body how was it that I kept hitting the wickets, and getting men leg before?

“The last fact is that the Australians were fairly and squarely beaten. Their favourite players failed and the crowds were not interested in the play but the result. They tried to get back at me because my bowling to captain’s orders had had a lot to do with our success. The Australians may not like my bowling. Well I do not like their howling. It isn’t cricket,’’