The toll of the bumper

By A.C De SILVA

Nari Contractor in happy times - strides out to the middle. But Contractor had a narrow escape from death when a bumper from West Indies paceman Charlie Griffith felled him. The injury was so serious that it necessitated two major operations on the skull. He recovered but there was no cricket for him thereafter.	Keith Millor in full flow with the bat, but it was in bowling that Miller who really seen in full flight that tore into the batting of the West Indies.	Ray Lindwall’s bumpers were systematic and persistent and along with Miller blasted Australia to victory. Lindwall was the fastest bowler Australia developed.

BUMP BOWLING:Sending down bumpers to batsmen on a large scare is a post-war development though it has its roots in the “Bodyline” bowling of Harold Larwood in Australia in 1932-33. The latter set an intimidating field on the leg-side and attacked the leg-stump consistently and accurately.

This method of bowling, called “Bodyline” by the Australians and “leg theory” by the Englishmen, was worked out by Douglas Jardine, England’s captain at the time, to subdue Bradman, Woodfull, the Australian captain, remarked with a certain amount of bitterness: “Out in the middle there is only one team playing cricket and that is Australia”. Larwood’s bowling raised a storm of controversy which nearly ended the good relations between England and Australia.

Referring to England’s win in the 1932-33 serious Jack Hobbs, one of cricket’s immortals, wrote: “Bodyline bowling is hated by the Australians as much as I hate it. I would have given anything to see us win by orthodox bowling, a form of attack that carries no recriminations, no accusations, and no uproar... The curious thing about it is that 90 percent of the players are against it and about 90 percent, of the public in England for it. Cricketers knew exactly what bodyline meant; the public had a very hazy idea and too many people were in favour of bodyline because they are obsessed with desire for victory”

From bodyline bowling the scene shifted to bump bowling. This kind of bowling showed its ugly head when in 1951-52 the West Indies toured Australia. The former then were a powerful team, the three great Ws Worrell, Weekes and Walcott, Stollmeyer, Rae and Christiani forming the backbone of their batting. But Australia through the bump bowling of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller beat them by four matches to one.

Summing up the series, the great cricket writer W. J. O’Reilly mentioned in his column in the Sydney Morning Herald, a leading newspaper, said that the rule relating to the systematic use of short-pitched balls should have been applied against Lindwall.

O’Reilly said that as one who played in the famous series of 1932-33, deplored the means Lindwall took to get Weekes’ wicket. From the first over of the day, Lindwall made it obvious that he intended to make it “Trial-by-ordeal” methods in dealing with Weekes. This was carried out by his using a series of short-pitched fast bumpers which rattled the little right-hander badly. Lindwall’s bumpers were systematic and persistent.

Charlie Griffith - the bowler responsible in Indian batsman Nari Contractor being injured in a Colony match. The injury was so serious which necessitated in two major operations which led to contractor laying his hands off cricket.

Wesley Hall bowled his thunderbolts in Tests as well as side games. It was not merely pace that bothered the Indian batsmen, the West Indian pacemen bowled bumpers and more than one player was hit by the vicious bowling.

Jack Fingleton, who played against Larwood in the “Bodyline” series took to journalism and was one of the foremost cricket writers. He wrote: “The truth is if these Tests (Australia - West Indies of 1951 -52) were re-commenced again, the result would be precisely the same, because the West Indians en-masse either do not like fast bowling or do not know how to handle it.

“And so in all our post-war series, Miller and Lindwall blasted Australia to victory and with plenty of bumpers enroute.

There were angry murmurs in the West Indian camp against bumpers and sad reflections that they did not bring one for the Tests against who could pay the Australians in kind. History is there to be read and any person who has followed cricket would not be upset about the treatment meted out to Miller and Lindwall about their tactics. The two bowlers have said that it was all in the game and the batsman should learn to hook.

To soothe the prevailing problems then, with fast men Farnes, Allen, Voce, McCormick and Nash playing in the final and decisive Melbourne Test of 1937, Allen and Bradman compromised on ‘no bumpers’ and there were none. This obviously was somewhat of a admission by both captains that bumpers are not good or proper and it was a pleasant thought, as a batsman knowing that none were coming.

The famous cricketer Walter Hammond observed that during his career he had met intimidatory bowling from many bowlers. He has said that he was never happy or perhaps less happy than many others.

The Indian cricketers had a torrid time when Wes Hall and company were bowling their thunderbolts in the Test matches, as well as the side games. It was not merely pace that bothered the Indian batsmen.

The West Indian pacemen had bowled too many bumpers and more than one player was hit by the vicious bowling. The worst was the hit which Nari Contractor received at the hands of Griffith of Barbados in the Colony match. The injury was so serious that it necessitated two major operations on the skull. Contractor fully recovered but did not take further part of the tour.

There have been other incidents where the pace bowlers have caused havoc with their rising deliveries. The bumper clearly shows the bowlers incapacity to hit the stumps or make the batsman err in his judgement of pace or swing.

At times it is not easy to judge the rise of the ball, however, short it is pitched because of the speed at which it is delivered. For, the element of surprise such deliveries carry is always there. Neither Hall nor Gilchrist or for that matter, any fast bowler would intentionally disable a batsman but their type of bowling is such that it will always hit a batsman on his head or body.