Page "The Ashes" Paragraph 107

Jardine instructed his fast bowlers, most notably Harold Larwood and Bill Voce, to bowl at the bodies of the Australian batsmen, with the goal of forcing them to defend their bodies with their bats, thus providing easy catches to a stacked leg-side field.

Jardine insisted that the tactic was legitimate and called it " leg theory " but it was widely disparaged by its opponents, who dubbed it " Bodyline " ( from " on the line of the body ").

Although England decisively won the Ashes 4 – 1, Bodyline caused such a furore in Australia that diplomats had to intervene to prevent serious harm to Anglo-Australian relations, and the MCC eventually changed the Laws of cricket to curtail the number of leg side fielders.