Bodyline Autopsy: The full story of the most sensational Test cricket series: Australia v England 1932-33

A must read for all cricket lovers. History we did not know.

Excellent history of the bodyline series. Brings alive the causes, action and aftermath of the series with all the color and flavors of the people involved.

For a person who loves cricket history this book is a must read. Saw it first while in Australia but was over priced being out of print but I was lucky to discover it reasonably priced via Amazon. A compelling story of a Test series which caused strong emotions in England and Australia in the 1930's.

Fascinating in-depth study of a riveting series.The writer's comparisons with later fast bowlers and their tactics put the 32-33 series into perspective.

A must read for any cricket lover!

A very balanced, authoritative and insightful analysis of a cricketing controversy that refuses to die. Each chapter is carefully researched and detailed, yet the book reads like an enthralling novel. At no point did I skip pages or become bored. Not only is this the story of the matches but also of the personalities, above all, Jardine, Larwood and Bradman. This is an excellent book, the best cricket book I've read to date on any subject about the sport.

Every cricket fan will know about the 1932-33 MCC tour to Australia so let's not go into that too much and talk about the book itself. Frith draws upon interviews with the participants, letters, notes and all other assorted documents on the tour and its characters. Whilst a very well researched and noble piece of writing, I was a bit disappointed.The events of the tour itself covers only about a third of the book. I felt the last 100 pages could easily have been left out, did we really need a whole chapter on how the MCC team made its way back home at the end of the series (not to mention what they did when they got back too). The book's not so much about the tour, as about the lead up and the fallout of it - even going into cricket postwar, and do we really need page after page of telling us what happened to everyone later on in life too.The Test matches themselves are described in full, albeit little more than cut-and-paste newspaper clippings of the day's events. OK if you're a cricketing anorak but I still felt the book itself just scratched the surface of the whole affair - obviously the people involved couldn't be interviewed and not surprisingly the diplomatic notes of the affair are no longer avaliable, so there are innumerable letters, notes and recalled conversations. Still, it would make a good present for a cricket fan.

A very in-depth look at one of - if not THE most - controversial test series between England and Australia ever.The author looks not only at the tests, but the build up to them and reveals just how the likes of Douglas Jardine was viewed by the opposition and some of his own players.Written in painstaking detail, with plenty of photographs included, this book warrants a place on any cricket lover's bookshelf.

After watching the Bodyline series then reading this I was astounded to learn that the tv drama was really over played about the Austrailian players outrage and felt the tv series was more a love in to Bradman (great batsman) all I can say is these are the real facts plain and simple, Yes the leg theory at that time was controversial but was being used in other forms of cricket before the bodyline series and still continues to the present day. and i like the way through the book I learned the real fact behind this notorious series were not as outrages as the tv drama

This was the first of the bodyline books that I read, and what a good read it was. David Frith was probably the leading authority on the subject material at the time. However, the book is very clearly just one side of the coin. Good as the book is, the anti Jardine bias is apparent at a very early stage and this alone restricts the book in its conclusions in many key areas.David Frith's research was obviously considerable, but many conclusions were drawn on hearsay, rumours and off the record remarks. Much credence has been given to the testimony of Gubby Allen, a man of double standards, whose memory was selective (at best) and in more than one case totally wrong.One feels very let down in the way that the famous dressing room leak was handled. Frith has documentary evidence to who the culprit was. Even without this, the finger of suspicion was pointed very clearly in Bradman direction. Jack Fingleton names him in his book and Bill Woodfull Jnr says as much in an interview. The relations of the reporter who covered the story, stated that Bradman was the culprit.The reluctance to say anything bad about Bradman and anything good about Jardine, does sent the tone of the book. More recent publications, especially Bodyline Hypocrisy, prove conclusively that this was very far from being so.For those interested in the subject material, this book is the perfect place to start, but for a much wider perspective this book must be supplemented by Bodyline Hypocrisy and Jardine, Spartan Cricketer.

I read this book which gave me great enjoyment from start to finish. I could see two sides to it. I worked in North Nottinghamshire with many of the mining community family members and my sister married an Australian and lived there for the majority of her life.The common ground for both sets of people.Competitive,plain speaking and love of beer and cricket.