Formation of Imperial Cricket Conference, Bradman and Bodyline

Sir Don Bradman

The MCC found it difficult to manage Cricket outside England and hence they came up with a committee known as the Imperial Cricket Conference.

Australian Cricket reached new heights after the World War with the emergence of Donald Bradman. Bradman looked a class above his counter-parts and was gifted with special abilities. He scored his runs quickly and always showed signs of dominance. No bowler in the world had idea about how to stop this genius from scoring his runs. England got frustrated to this and they came up with something that was not in the spirits of the game- the leg theory. With the sudden emergence of fast bowlers with unreal pace in England, they were confident of this theory to work in their favour. They willfully bowled on the legs and body of the batsman to hurt them physically. The Nawab of Pataudi who belonged to the British India clearly refused to take part in these tactics and hence thrown away from the English team and never played for them again. England were successful in stopping Bradman from scoring as he averaged in the 50s with the bat as opposed to his incredible 130s. The incredibly quick Harold Larwood got a good advantage over the batsman in this series taking around 30 wickets in 5 matches. England won this 5-match series 4-1. But their leg-theory was heavily criticized by the media and the spectators alike. They called this extremely dangerous for the sport and was called inhuman. England's Captain Douglas Jardine was removed with immediate effect. Harold Larwood was asked to sign an apology to which he refused and took retirement from Cricket.