
At a garden party, Douglas Jardine (Hugo Weaving), the very model of an English gentleman and a very fine cricketer, is discussing the phenomenon of the young Donald Bradman (Gary Sweet) with his friends and colleagues – all gentlemen players and selectors. There’s Lord Harris (Frank Thring), one of the English selectors and a close friend of Jardine’s family, there’s the former English captain (Rhys McConnochie) and the flamboyant cricketer Percy George Fender, (John Gregg). Jardine says that Bradman is so good he’s going to change the way cricket will be played. His friends disagree, saying that Bradman is a flash in the pan and no match for England’s softer pitches. Summary by Janet Bell.
This prophetic scene takes place during an English upper class garden party where the talk is very much about cricket, but cricket as a gentlemen’s game, in contrast to the rough and tumble of the Australian game as practised by Donald Bradman with his highly successful and unorthodox shots, or the world of players like the working class English fast bowler, Harold Larwood (Jim Holt), who must find the time to practise after a hard day underground as a miner. Douglas Jardine has played for his English public school, for Oxford and now for his county team. He’s well connected with the Lords who choose the English team and there’s nothing more certain than his selection for the English side, as a gentleman and an amateur, of course.
In the summer of 1932-33, three men of Empire – the brilliant young Australian batsman Donald Bradman (Gary Sweet), the gentleman English captain Douglas Jardine (Hugo Weaving) and the Yorkshire coal miner and fast bowler Harold Larwood (Jim Holt) – would play to enormous crowds across Australia, in the 'Bodyline’ test series – so called because of the bowling tactics of the English team. This controversial test series threatened the traditional ties between Australia and the 'mother’ country and changed the game of cricket forever.
Bodyline tells the story of a test series in which the English Captain, Douglas Jardine, instructed his speed bowlers, including the fast bowler Harold Larwood, to bowl at the upper body of the Australian batsmen. This increased the chances of a defensive reaction, which would either expose the wicket or give an easy catch to the fieldsmen. The English team had lost the Ashes to Australia the previous year and Jardine was determined to break the winning streak of Australia’s star batsman, Donald Bradman.
It was the height of the worldwide economic depression and as the dole queues swelled and the despairing men took to the road to find work to keep their families housed and fed, sport – especially the British Empire game of cricket – became one of their few distractions. Kennedy Miller tells the bodyline story as the Greeks and Romans told the myths and legends of their great warrior heroes. The heroes in this case being three larger than life cricketing greats and their epic struggle to win the Ashes for their country. Through the telling of this extraordinary story, we learn a great deal about the changing nature of cricket, the stultifying hand of the cricketing bureaucracy and the character of the players who were determined to give their all for their team mates, their captain and their country.
Notes by Janet Bell
This clip shows English cricketer Douglas Jardine (Hugo Weaving) at a garden party, discussing Australian batsman Don Bradman with English cricket selectors and Percy Fender, captain of the English team. While Fender is dismissive of Bradman, saying that he has not been tested on the softer English wickets (pitches), Jardine insists that Bradman could not only 'rewrite the record books’ but also change the way that cricket is played.
Education notes provided by The Learning Federation and Education Services Australia
English cricketer Douglas Jardine (Hugo Weaving) is at a garden party, discussing Australian batsman Don Bradman with English cricket selectors and Percy Fender, captain of the English team.
Pelham Warner Percy’s just been telling me about young Bradman.
Douglas Jardine Oh, yes, he’s quite remarkable.
Pelham Really? That’s not what Percy was saying.
Percy Fender I think I’m about to be misquoted. Excuse me.
Jardine I’ve spent weeks trying to persuade him, but he still can’t see the truth.
Lord Harris And what truth is that, Douglas?
Jardine Well, like most batsman, I can play one or perhaps two shots to any given ball, whereas Bradman can choose between four or five.
Fender He doesn’t choose. He just plays the first shot that comes into his head. But he has no technique. Now, he can get away with this on those true hard Australian pitches. But put him on one of our green strips, with Morris seaming the ball late – oh no, he’s too unorthodox. Take the third Test in Melbourne.
Jardine Oh no, not that again.
Percy It’s a very good example, Douglas. Now on at least three occasions, the ball was short pitched, screaming out to be hooked, he played a cover drive.
Pelham Oh, it’s absurd.
Jardine No, it’s not absurd. At least two of those balls went for four. That’s the power of Bradman. He’s learned that a batsman’s sole objective is to score runs. And he’ll play whatever shot, unorthodox or not, which best fulfils that purpose. It makes it almost impossible to set a field to him.
Pelham Well, sorry old chap, but I think you’re on your own. Well, the skipper agrees with Percy and says Bradman is just a flash in the pan. And Tait says that he’ll have to play a straighter bat if he comes here and plays on one of our wet wickets.
Jardine They’re older men, steeped in the conventional methods of play.
Fender Oh, thank you very much!
Jardine Bradman is something totally new. He’s not interested in playing classic shots. He’s never had any formal training, so he’s developed his own style. A unique approach. I believe if he continues to develop, we could see scores none of us have ever dreamed of. He could rewrite the record books. He could change the very nature of the game.
Lord Harris Oh, come come, Douglas. That’s being unnecessarily alarmist. No batsman in the world has ever done that.
Fender I must say, in fairness, there are hundreds and thousands of Australians who’d agree with Douglas. Out there, he’s become quite a celebrity.
Jardine It’s not a very pleasant sight, Bradman standing in the middle of the pitch, bat raised, the crowd chanting his name. As a society, they seem to crave heroes.
Pelham Well, I like Australians. It’s just that they prize individualism.
Jardine Indeed. They continually want to elevate one man at the expense of the team. I find it quite abhorrent.
Lord Harris Well, that’s certainly not the nature of the game. The heart is the team.
Jardine I’m afraid the Australians wouldn’t agree with you there, my Lord. Their whole approach to cricket is different. At times, I wondered if we were playing the same game I’d grown up with. To listen to the crowd, you’d think it was a hunt with the English as the fox.
Pelham Oh, get used to that. It’s just good-natured barracking.
Jardine Questioning a man’s parentage is hardly good-natured.
Pelham My dear fellow, in Australia, ‘bastard’ is almost a term of endearment.
Jardine Well, I come from a different world, thank God. The Australians are not a people I’ll ever warm to.
Lord Harris Nothing wrong with that. Always easier to give a hiding to a man you dislike.
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