BOWLING TACTICS

Wairarapa Age, 21 August 1934, Page 6

BOWLING TACTICS

PLAY IN THE FINAL TEST. I AUSTRALIANS ANNOYED, BODY-LINE ISSUE RAISED AGAIN. LONDON, August 19. The special representative of the Australian Press Association says that the Australians did not appreciate the tactics employed by the bowlers, despite the rapidity and apparent ease with which they scored. It was considered that Clark’s attack with 'a leg-side field . and, to a .lesser degree, the bumpers bowled by Bowes with a legtrap, infringed what was regarded as England’s undertaking that such bowling would not be used in the Tests. The Australians emphasised the fact that although they scored so handsomely their stand on principle against a fast attack directed towards the body with a leg-side field was not affected. As a member of the team told the Australian Press representative, “'We have never contended that bodyline could not 'be scored against, but the physical danger and bad feeling engendered leaves us as antagonistic as before. Now we cannot be accused of disliking body-line because we failed, against it.” The “Sunday Times” comments:— “Maybe Larwood and Voce would have given the Australians more than their wickets to defend and would have succeeded in unsettling or, in plain English, intimidating them and preventing them showing their true form. If so, we need not regret that such a dangerous attack was eliminated. Clark, Bowes and Allen are quite hostile enough for any game.” Sir Stanley Jackson told the “Sunday Chronicle” that leg-theory was not dead and the sooner England a r d Australia realised that they must still find a solution, the better. “I firmly believe that if Larwood and Voce bowl in Australia,” he said, 11 there will be a grave risk of an outburst terminating cricket relations. It would; be better to discontinue the Test matches permanently than to permit really bad feeling.*’ A. W. Carr, the Nottinghamshire captain, writing in the “-Sunday Express” remarks.- “I should say Clark bumped the ball more than Voce did at Nottinghaiii. Some of the ducking, particularly by Ponsford, was absurd. Batsmen who duck balls little more than stump high deserve all they get if they are hit. Why Clark was allowed to bowl as he did after all the recent fuss about Voce is a great puzzle. Per.haps it is legitimate as long as it is not bowled by a Notts bowler. * ’ In the course of an editorial, the “Observer” criticises the M.C.C. for not postponing the Australian visit until the leg-theory quarrel had subsided or .been settled. “No governing body could have faced the difficulty with more feebleness,” remarks this pa'per, “and there were never so many peoplewho neither cared what the result of the current Test match would be nor attached any relish to the prospect of another. ” Maurice Tate, writing in the “Reynolds News,” remarks that the time has come when the rulers of the game must arrive at a definite decision about leg-theory. The Australians came keen to bury the past and it is high time the past was really buried. The paper ,in an editorial renews its former demand for the Tests to be stopped. BROMLEY’S ILLNESS LONDON, August 19. Bromley, who is reported to be suffering from appendicitis, will require to undergo an operation, which. will probably take place this week.