Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Harold Larwood | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Nuncargate, Nottinghamshire, England |
14 November 1904|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 22 July 1995 Randwick, New South Wales, Australia |
(aged 90)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting style | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling style | Right arm fast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut (cap 225) | 26 June 1926 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 28 February 1933 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1924–1938 | Nottinghamshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1936–1937 | Europeans (India) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: [1], 8 January 2009 |
Harold Larwood (14 November 1904 – 22 July 1995) was a professional cricketer for Nottinghamshire and England between 1924 and 1938. A right-arm fast bowler who combined unusual speed with great accuracy, he was considered by many commentators to be the finest bowler of his generation. He was the main exponent of the bowling style known as "bodyline", the use of which during the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour of Australia in 1932–33 caused a furore that brought about a premature and acrimonious end to his international career.
A coal miner's son who began working in the mines at the age of 14, Larwood was recommended to Nottinghamshire on the basis of his performances in club cricket, and rapidly acquired a place among the country's leading bowlers. He made his Test debut in 1926, in only his second season in first-class cricket, and was a member of the 1928–29 touring side that retained the Ashes in Australia. The advent of the Australian batsman Don Bradman ended a period of English cricket supremacy; Larwood and other bowlers were completely dominated by Bradman during Australia's victorious tour of 1930. Thereafter, under the guidance of England's combative captain Douglas Jardine, the fast leg theory or bodyline bowling attack was developed. With Larwood as its spearhead the tactic was used with considerable success in the 1932–33 Test series in Australia. The Australians' description of the method as "unsportsmanlike" soured cricketing relations between the two countries; during subsequent efforts to heal the breach, Larwood refused to apologise for his bowling, since he was carrying out his captain's instructions. He never played for England after the 1932–33 tour, but continued his county career with considerable success for several more seasons.