In this episode of Bodyline, Douglas Jardine puts his “leg theory” into action. Its effectiveness is demonstrated first in a warm up match, and then in the first test, where England just need 1 run in the second innings to win. Bradman misses the first test due to illness, and his ability to play in the second test is doubtful because the Cricket Board won’t let him write a newspaper column while playing.
Tropes found here are
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: The board doesn’t take Bradman’s warnings about the potential safety risk posed by Jardine’s leg theory.
- I Let You Win: Jardine let’s the openers Woodfall and Ponsford score some runs to a conventional field, letting them gain some confidence - before unleashing the leg theory on them.
- Portmanteau: The phrase Bodyline was actually an improvised portmanteau a journalist had to come up with to shorten the message he was sending by telegraph. He didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay to transmit “on the line of the body” so he transmitted “on Bodyline” instead. The phrase stuck.
- Sadistic Choice: The Australians realize what Jardine’s “leg theory” is - it forces the batsman to choose between preserving his wicket, or getting struck repeatedly, risking serious injury in the process.
- Token Minority: The Nawab of Pataudi Ifthikar Ali Khan is the only non-white player on the England cricket team. He does score a century on debut.
