'Harold Larwood' by Duncan Hamilton

It is a rare thing for a cricket player to be at the centre of a diplomatic crisis. It is rarer still for English cricket to produce a truly great fast bowler. Both statements can be truly said of Harold Larwood, the quickest of his age. He performed in an era before protective equipment, when there was a very real chance that Larwood could shatter bone and break skin with each delivery. He was said to induce terror amongst those going out to face him.

Yet, for all that great aggression on the field, Duncan Hamilton portrays a decent man who was shabbily treated by the the establishment off it. The great turning point of his life was the 'Bodyline' tour of Australia during 1932/33 when he bowled to an aggressive leg-side field. It was both his finest hour and his last appearance in an England cap. The ructions that this series created can still be felt today in the relationship between the two countries.

When compared to the tumultuous Pakistan tour that has just finished, the 1932/33 Ashes series was even more divisive with even greater consequences for its participants. Hamilton shows us how Larwood went from being a hero for the Marylebone Cricket Club (then administrators of the England team) to its principal villain as the Australian complaints became more vocal. The consequences stretched as far as central government, which demanded through its friends at Lords that Larwood be made to apologise.

In keeping with his modest background, the unpretentious Harold Larwood refused to do so, thus ending his international career. Hamilton shows us how this ultimately led to disillusion with the game, taking Larwood into a long period of exile from cricket. Yet, when reading the opening pages of the book, it seems difficult to believe that a young lad who lived for nothing else would decide to end his career so early.

His start at his county, Nottinghamshire, was only earned after a long spell of working in nearby mines. The determination to stay away from the pits is what led Larwood to practise bowling so intensely. It was clear early on to those that faced him that he was destined for England duty. He soon struck up a partnership with his friend Bill Voce, who joined him on the international stage.

After an inauspicious start, Larwood was worried that his career was over before it had begun. Yet, his captain with both Nottinghamshire and England, Arthur Carr, persuaded him that he was good enough. Gradually, his confidence grew to such a point that he scared batsmen (sometimes literally) to the point of immobility. After a narrow victory over the Australians in his first series, Larwood continued his international success over the next five seasons.

This period was also his greatest domestically as Nottinghamshire won the 1929 county championship. Larwood took hundreds of wickets at absurdely low averages of between 12 and 18. As he approached 1932, he was in the best form he had ever been in. Before the Orontes set sail to take him to Australia, Douglas Jardine, his new international captain called him to a meeting that would change the direction of his life.

Leg-theory or 'Bodyline' had been in widespread use in domestic tournaments during the early 1930's. It was a tactic that involved aiming a fast, short pitched ball at the batsman to induce a catching chance. Jardine proposed to his bowlers that they should use this tactic with the intention of disrupting the Australian batting. He also felt that one member of that line-up merited special attention, a man by the name of Donald Bradman.

To those of you less familiar with cricket, Donald Bradman is widely accepted as the greatest player to have ever held a bat. He was the principal danger to England's chances of success on the tour. Larwood's duels with Bradman became the stuff of legend as England, largely thanks to Larwood, won the series 4-1.

This victory came at a heavy cost. Larwood struck Bert Oldfield, the Australian wicket-keeper on the head as well as many other members of the team. Hamilton shows us how he had not intended to deliberately hurt them but this is not the way the Australian public interpreted it. They called for Larwood's head and as a result of the MCC's acquiescence, they got it.

Despite that bitter end to his career, Larwood is remembered universally as a truly magnificent bowler whose action is a thing of beauty to behold. It is a credit to Duncan Hamilton that he shows us the man behind the bowler. He reveals that Larwood was no thug or bully as some Australians have suggested but a kind man with a rich and varied life.

The book is best summed up by the quote it uses early on from the Australian leg-spinner Bill O'Reilly when talking about facing Larwood:

'He came steaming in and I moved right across behind my bat, held perfectly straight in defence of my centre stump. Just before he delivered the ball something hit the middle of my bat with such force that it was almost dashed from my hands. It was the ball.'

It is a fitting testament to one of the greatest bowlers to have graced the game. Just as this book is a fine account of his life.