Memories of 'Bodyline'

Beyond boundaries

Harold Larwood was the fall guy of the infamous ‘Bodyline’ Ashes series in 1932-33 when the tearaway quick had the great Don Bradman in all sorts of trouble.

Larwood was disgraced following the series though he was merely following the instructions of his captain Douglas Jardine. He was even forced to leave the country post the second World War and went on to settle, ironically, in Australia.

Post his death, however, he has been recognised as a hero and was even honoured posthumously with an MBE in 1993. Nottinghamshire, where Larwood hailed from, is now proud of the fast bowler’s legacy. While the Trent Bridge has a stand named after him and his bowling partner Bill Voce, there’s an English pub that is called ‘Larwood Voce Pub’, situated in one of the corners of the stadium. It was renovated in March with the front wall sporting an image of a shattered leg-stump by the red ball, perhaps suggesting what Larwood loved doing. They have Larwood cocktails and lemonades on the menu but it’s the variety draught beers that they offer that are the main attractions.

When a Somalian said 'Bahut Achha'!

Waiting for an Uber is not the most pleasant experience at any time of the day, and especially not when it is pelting and you have a coach to catch. We were in real danger of missing the bus, literally, when the first Uber driver cancelled, and the next was 10 minutes away, with a little over half an hour to the departure time. After several phone calls, Abdulkadir finally made it in his Toyota Prius, bustled off the cab and greeted us, ‘Namaste, kaisa hai aap?’

The Hindi wasn’t perfect, but you didn’t even expect Hindi in the first place – Abdulkadir is from Somalia, he helpfully informs us. And that ‘yahin London me Hindi sikha. London bahut menga, India bahut achcha.’

He then launched into a monologue on everything Indian, weaving in and out of traffic while reassuringly telling us, ‘Bahut time hai. Tension mat lo.’ True to his word, he dropped us off with plenty of time to spare. Bahut achcha, indeed.