Douglas Jardine is one name that directs each listener’s mind to a single place without any confusion; The Bodyline Series. A series that changed the way test cricket was played forever. Jardine was a polarizing figure in cricket, to say the least. You could love him or hate him but could not ignore him.
One would have to be a cricket encyclopedia to know much about someone who played cricket about 80 years ago. And for people like me, the bodyline series is where Jardine became a reference.
Douglas Jardine played 22 tests for England, out of which he captained the side in 15 of them and out of those 15, 5 were the part of the infamous bodyline series.
To give a brief, Bodyline series was name given to the 5 match ashes test series between England and Australia in Australia, played in 1932-33, because of the England teams tactics to bowl short pitched deliveries aimed at the bodies of the batsmen continuously, while having most of the fielders placed on the leg side, around the batsmen, waiting for deflections.
Douglas Jardine was believed to be the main strategist behind this tactic, devised specifically to counter Sir Donald Bradman. The strategy worked for them, as England won the series 4-1 but were seen in a very bad light, all over the cricketing world.
I would prefer to call Douglas Jardine, an ordinary batsman but a master strategist who in a way gave a new direction to the way cricket was played. He wore his attitude on his sleeve and was quite open about his hate for the Australian players.
He was out there to get results and he tried some new options in order to achieve his target. People could probably not see his vision for the cricketing future where he gave a lot to think about to all the teams playing in that era, about thinking out of the box and expanding their horizons of imagination.
Jardine’s first class career was not a long one by the standard set those days, as he started in 1923-24 for Surrey and debuted for England in 1928-29 while he retired in 1934. In such a short span he managed to be a prominent figure in the history books, due to the mentioned Bodyline Series, which also became a catalyst for him to announce his retirement.
I believe every contribution in sports is a constructive one as it either provides a new way or a new learning and Douglas Jardine gave us both. He died in June 18, 1958 at Montreux, Switzerland, but has lived forever with his Bodyline Series references.
Here’s wishing Douglas Jardine a very happy birthday.