A 22-year-old Stan McCabe is slated to bat at No. 5 at Sydney Dec 1932. He knows what he will get from Harold Larwood and Bill Voce. He tells his dad, in what becomes a famous Body-line quote: “If I get hit, dad, stop mum jumping the fence.”
Stan McCabe proved body-line could be played when he got his 187 not out. He made his runs by playing his. natural game—hooking the rising balls and not letting the leg-side fieldsmen play on his mind. A batsman cannot place a hook shot precisely where he wants it, but he can hit it roughly in the direction he wants. I left plenty of open field for those who wanted to accept the challenge.
Stan McCabe accepted it and thrashed me. Vic Richardson did the same thing to a lesser extent several times. The only time they got hit was when they didn’t play; their natural game and used their bats as a shield.
Stan McCabe was supposed to have received such a battering and be-, come intimidated to such a degree that he didn’t make any more runs after he got that 187 in 233 balls. I think he was out of luck for a time and also that, instead of attacking the bowling on the leg side he adopted some of the methods of his team-mates of ducking.
Read More – Mike Smith – Popular England Captain of 1960s
