About 50 years after the Bodyline controversy, Paul Wheeler wrote a fictionalised account of that infamous series in Bodyline: The Novel ( 1983 ).

In 1984, Australia's Network Ten produced a television mini-series titled Bodyline, dramatising the events of the 1932 – 33 English tour of Australia.

The story of the Bodyline series was retold in a 1984 television mini-series.

Weaving's first major role was in the 1984 Australian television series Bodyline, as the English cricket captain Douglas Jardine.

After two years of working on the show, Lesnie moved on to numerous Australian film and television productions, including the mini-series Bodyline.

In 1984, Doyle appeared as English bowler George " Gubby " Allen in the acclaimed Network Ten television miniseries Bodyline.

Gary Sweet ( born 22 May 1957 in Melbourne ) is an Australian film and television actor known for his roles in Alexandra's Project ( 2003 ), Police Rescue, Cody, Big Sky, The Battlers, Bodyline and Stingers.

Notable miniseries have included Against the Wind, All the Rivers Run, Bodyline, Brides of Christ, The Dismissal and The Timeless Land, and in more recent times Curtin and Bastard Boys.

In 1984, Sweet had his first major role as Donald Bradman in the Network Ten miniseries Bodyline, the story of the 1932 – 33 Test cricket series between England and Australia.

After early roles in 1980s soap operas such as The Young Doctors, Prisoner and Sons and Daughters and the miniseries Bodyline ( in which she appeared as Jessie Bradman, Donald Bradman's wife ).

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 ").

See Bodyline for details on one reason this rule exists.

Events on the cricket pitch have occasionally even been elevated to diplomatic incidents in Australian history – as occurred in the infamous Bodyline controversy of the 1930s, in which an English team bowled in a physically intimidating way leading to accusations of unsportsmanlike conduct.

Known as the Bodyline series, it became notorious for the controversial English tactic of bowling short on the line of leg stump, making the ball rise towards the batsman's body to create deflections that could be caught by leg-side fielders.

In the second Test, unsettled by Bodyline, Hammond was cut on the chin by a short ball, causing him to retire hurt.

* In 1932 – 33, the Bodyline affair reached its lowest point at the ground when Bill Woodfull and Bert Oldfield were struck, and on the third day mounted police patrolled to keep the 50, 962 spectators in order ( a record crowd for cricket at the ground ).

His major works include My Dear Victorious Stod ( a biography of A. E. Stoddart ), a lavishly illustrated history of England versus Australia, Silence of the Heart ( on cricket's suicides, an expansion of his earlier book ' By His Own Hand ), The Fast Men, The Slow Men ( about fast bowlers and spinners ), Pageant of Cricket ( the only cricket book to have as many as 2000 pictures ), Caught England, Bowled Australia ( autobiography ), The Trailblazers ( the first English tour of Australia, in 1861-62 ), The Archie Jackson Story ( biography ) and Bodyline Autopsy.

A Bodyline delivery was one where the cricket ball was pitched short so as to rise towards the body of the opposing batsman on the line of the leg stump, in the hope of creating legside deflections that could be caught by one of several fielders on the leg side.

" At this stage, he seems to have settled on leg theory, if not full Bodyline, as his main tactic.

He had clashed with more of his team by this stage: he had argued with Gubby Allen at least twice about that bowler's refusal to bowl Bodyline ( although he did bowl bouncers and fielded in the " leg trap ", the fielders who waited for catches close in on the leg side ); and the Nawab of Pataudi had refused to field in the " leg trap ", to which Jardine responded, " I see his highness is a conscientious objector ", and subsequently allowed Pataudi to play little part in the tour.

Pelham Warner, although he later stated that he disapproved of Bodyline bowling, praised Jardine's captaincy on the tour and believed that he was cruelly treated by the Australian crowds.

At the same time, he was far more willing to take up speaking engagements than on the Bodyline tour, showed an appreciation and regard for Indian crowds which he had never extended to Australia, and played the diplomatic role that was usually expected of a captain of the M. C. C.

He also clashed, later on, with the umpire Frank Tarrant, initially due to suspicion over the number of lbw decisions given against the M. C. C., but also because Tarrant had warned him against using Bodyline and was employed by Indian princes.

Christopher Douglas judges that Jardine did very well to keep the team united and loyal on the Bodyline tour.

He became close to Herbert Sutcliffe during the Bodyline tour, even though Sutcliffe was sceptical about Jardine on the previous Australian tour in 1928 – 29.

He also displayed great physical courage, such as when he was struck by a ball hard enough to draw blood on the Bodyline tour, but refused to show pain before reaching the dressing room.

Jack Fingleton admitted that he had liked Jardine and stated that he and Larwood had each done their job on the Bodyline tour, and expressed regret at the way both left cricket in acrimonious circumstances.

Bill O ' Reilly stated that he disliked Jardine at the time of Bodyline, but on meeting him later found him agreeable and even charming.

After this tour and the subsequent fallout, Carr was subjected to Bodyline bowling by other English county teams, and was severely shaken by several balls that nearly hit him on the head.

Serving as Jardine's vice-captain on the 1932-33 tour of Australia, Wyatt was in charge of an early tour match that Jardine sat out of, and became the first captain to employ the controversial Bodyline tactic against the Australian team.

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.

Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932 – 33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman.

Harold Larwood MBE ( 14 November 190422 July 1995 ) was an English cricket player, an extremely accurate fast bowler best known for his key role as the implementer of fast leg theory in the infamous Bodyline Ashes Test series of 1932 – 33.

England lost the Ashes, 2 – 1, in a series overshadowed at times by the Bodyline controversy.

Jardine is best known for captaining the English team during the 1932 – 33 Ashes tour of Australia, in which his team employed Bodyline tactics against Donald Bradman and other opposing Australian batsmen.

Jardine himself contributed his opinion in a book, In Quest for the Ashes, a first-hand account of the Bodyline tour.

This tactic was made famous by the England team in the controversial ' Bodyline ' Ashes series in 1932.

The books included Cricket Crisis ( mainly an account of the 1932 – 33 Bodyline series ), Brightly Fades the Don ( the 1948 Invincibles tour ), Brown & Company: The Tour in Australia ( the English tour of Australia in 1950 – 51 ), The Ashes Crown the Year ( the Australian tour of England in 1953 ), Masters of Cricket, Four Chukkas to Australia ( the English tour of Australia in 1958 – 59 ), The Greatest Test of All ( the Tied Test of 1960 ), Fingleton on Cricket and The Immortal Victor Trumper.

During his war years, Fingleton decided to take up book writing, in addition to newspaper journalism, and began compiling a book about the Bodyline series during his spare time in the army, a topic that was still deep in the Australian consciousness, using his inside knowledge as a participant in that Ashes campaign.

These include such matches as The birth of The Ashes, the 1933 Bodyline test match, Garfield Sobers ' six sixes, and the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup final.

* Ashes in the Mouth: The Story of the Bodyline Tour of 1932-33 ( 1982 )