Bill Voce
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | William Voce | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
8 August 1909 Annesley Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, England |
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| Died | 6 June 1984 (aged 74) Lenton, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England |
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| Batting style | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Left arm fast-medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 253) | 11 January 1930 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 7 January 1947 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1927–1952 | Nottinghamshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricinfo, 6 March 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bill Voce (8 August 1909 – 6 June 1984) was an English cricketer. He played for Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.
William Voce was born in Annesley Woodhouse, near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
He came from a working-class background in the coal mining districts around Nottingham, and made his first-class debut with Nottinghamshire against Gloucestershire in 1927. A few good performances saw Voce keep his place despite the strength and variety of Nottinghamshire's bowling. At this stage, Voce was a classical left-arm spinner and some critics viewed him as a successor to Colin Blythe. Thus, when he changed to a faster pace the following year there was a good deal of criticism, but, in 1929, Voce returned to his slower style with great success in a number of games on sticky wickets, notably against Northamptonshire when he took fourteen wickets for 43 runs.
He was selected for the English tour of the West Indies and made his Test debut in the first Test at Bridgetown, Barbados, on 11 January 1930. However, the hard wicket encouraged Voce to move to a faster style, and he had so much success that he persisted with the faster method when he returned to England, except on wet pitches. He did not do particularly well as a pace bowler in 1930, but following Australia's tour of England in that summer, when Don Bradman scored freely against the English bowling, Voce was part of a meeting convened between the future English captain, Douglas Jardine, and Nottinghamshire captain, Arthur Carr, to come up with a tactic to defeat Bradman and the Australians. Voce, and his fellow Nottinghamshire fast bowler, Harold Larwood, agreed to a suggestion by Jardine that bowling fast rising balls into the batsmen's bodies, with several catching fielders on the leg side would be an effective tactic.
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