Here’s hoping something positive emerges out of unsavoury events at Asia Cup. It’s happened in the past

The final of Asia Cup 2025 and the unsavoury events that took place after the game regarding the distribution of prizes created a huge debate across the cricketing world. The mixing of a popular sport with nationalism has concocted a powerful cocktail, which carries with it the potential to cause grave harm to the traditions attached to the sport. Even while congratulating India as the worthy winners of the title, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) must do some introspection and emerge with a clear set of guidelines to govern the conduct of matches with Pakistan, if at all they are required to be played, in future.

This incident also brought to mind some of the earlier instances in the history of the game where happenings on and off the field threatened diplomatic relations. The first was the “Bodyline” series of 1933, when the intimidatory tactics adopted by England fast bowlers injured many top Australian batsmen and led to widespread resentment and uproar. The second was the action of South African government to cancel a tour by an England side in 1968 on account of inclusion of a “coloured” player in the visiting side. Both these incidents resulted in far reaching consequences and are hence worthy of being recounted.

A bit of background is required to be recounted before commencing the story of the Bodyline series. In 1930, England lost a home “Ashes” series 1-2 against Australia, which shocked the pundits in the home of this sport. The difference between the two sides in this series was a short Aussie with the name Don Bradman, who pulverised the England bowlers into submission with his batting prowess. Bradman scored 974 runs in the five-Test series at an average of 139.14, which included one triple hundred, two double centuries and another three figure score! Such was his mastery that England bowlers became shorn of ideas while bowling to him and were driven to utter despair.

Douglas Jardine, who was appointed as England captain for the tour to Australia in 1933 was a no nonsense person who wanted to win at all costs. He had no doubts in his mind that the prospects of victory for the touring side depended entirely on their ability to dismiss Bradman cheaply. Jardine had observed during the last Test of the 1930 series that despite scoring 232, Bradman appeared uncomfortable when balls were aimed at his body. This strain of thought received a boost when he heard that in a first-class match in Australia in 1931, a Queensland fast bowler Eddie Gilbert had tied Bradman up in knots by bowling fast short-pitched stuff at him and dismissed him for a “duck”.

Jardine discussed strategy with his fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce and asked whether they could come “around the wicket” and bowl fast short-pitched balls aimed at the body of the batsmen with a packed leg side field. They both agreed and this is how the “leg theory”, as Jardine chose to call it, came into existence. This was successful even beyond Jardine’s wildest imagination. England won the five-match series 4-1, while Bradman finished with a tally of 396 runs, at an average of 56.57, from four Tests (he missed the first game due to an injury). Larwood took 33 wickets, which remains a record for an Englishman in a five-Test series. Australian batsmen had no answer to this concentrated attack of fast short-pitched balls and most of them batted like zombies, which made the task of the visiting bowlers easier.

But this was not a series without sparks of good sporting gestures. In the third Test, Bertie Oldfield of Australia broke his skull bone when he edged an intended hook shot off Larwood’s bowling on to his head. Even as he bled profusely, Oldfield refused to blame the bowler saying that it was his mistake which led to the injury. England fast bowler GOB (Gubby) Allen refused to bowl fast short-pitched balls, saying that “this was not the way I want to play the game”, while Ifthikar Ali Khan Pataudi refused to field in Bodyline fielding positions. When Larwood scored 98 in the last Test at Sydney, the entire crowd rose to cheer him, despite the commotion his bowling caused. All these incidents showed that despite the rancour on the field, sportsmanship was not completely absent even during this series.

The Bodyline series resulted in some positive developments for cricket as laws of this sport were amended to curb intimidatory bowling. In 1935, the laws were modified to empower umpires to step in when they noticed any instance where a bowler was trying to deliberately injure a batsman. Restrictions were also imposed on the number of fielders on the leg side, especially behind the wicket, which served to diminish the impact of bowlers trying to use these tactics.

The second instance of this nature took place in 1968, when a tour by England side to South Africa was cancelled, and involved Basil D'Oliveira, a cricketer hailing from Cape Town. D'Oliveira was described in South African records as “coloured” with an ancestry involving “White and African/ Indian”. He showed brilliance on the cricket field from a very young age but in the circumstances then prevailing in South Africa, he could not entertain any hopes of playing first-class cricket, let alone Test matches. Luck came to his aid when his talent was spotted by John Arlott, the veteran commentator, who recommended that he move to England and start playing club cricket there. D'Oliveira followed this advice and moved to England in 1960 and qualified to play first-class cricket for Worcestershire in 1965. In his first year he scored more than 1,500 runs besides picking wickets with his tidy swing bowling and helped his county win the championship. He made his debut in Test cricket the following year, against West Indies at Lord’s and quickly established himself in the England side.

England were set to tour South Africa in end 1968. South African authorities were watching the rapid strides made by D’Oliveira with anxiety and informally told Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), then controlling England cricket, that tour may not happen if he was selected. During the “Ashes” series of 1968, D’Oliveira was dropped after the first Test despite scoring an unbeaten 87. When he did not make it to the squad for the next 3 Tests and was not included in the list of probables for the tour to South Africa, reports started appearing in media to the effect that English selectors were trying to save the tour by sacrificing D’Oliveira. The futile efforts by some private individuals to offer monetary rewards to D’Oliveira for opting out of the tour did not help matters either.

But fate had other plans in store for D’Oliveira. Two players selected for the last Test against Australia dropped out due to injury forcing the selectors to call him as a replacement. D’Oliveira seized this opportunity with both hands and scored a brilliant 158, which helped England to win the Test and square the series. When he was not selected to the England side for touring South Africa despite this innings, all hell broke loose. Angry Members of Parliament wanted to know why D’Oliveira was not selected despite such sterling performances. MCC could not give any satisfactory response, which only increased the uproar over the injustice meted out to him. At this juncture, medium pacer Tom Cartwright dropped out of the tour forcing the selectors to pick D’Oliveira.

This led to South Africa informing England that they were calling off the proposed series. But the matter did end there. The wave of revulsion that arose against South Africa for the way in which they treated D’Oliveira was too severe for the political class to ignore. The Labour Party government in England worked on MCC and scrapped the proposed tour of South Africa to England in 1970. Australia too followed suit in 1971, when they withdrew an invitation to South Africa for a Test series. With the two countries that used to play Test matches with them deciding to break off ties, South Africa found themselves shut out of international cricket. This ban lasted till 1992, by which time that country repealed Apartheid laws, which was the cornerstone of the policy of discrimination based on the colour of the skin of an individual.

Basil D’Oliveira went on to play 44 Tests for England, scoring a total of 2,484 runs at an average of 40.06. He was the chief guest when England played South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town in 1996. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 80. Incidentally, England and South Africa compete for Basil D’Oliveira Trophy, when they play each other in Test matches at present!

Will the incidents that took place during Asia Cup 2025 have any long standing consequences on the game? It is difficult to predict at this juncture. One hopes that, like the two instances detailed above, some positive developments emerge from the happenings that took place at Dubai in the evening of 28 September.