KEEPING `EM HONEST...

The other day, I mentioned Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd being honest. I`m currently reading Duncan Hamilton`s award winning biography of Harold Larwood who is best remembered for his part in the infamous `Bodyline` tour by England`s cricket team in Australia in 1932/33. There was much more to Larwood than that, however, but one `incident` during that fateful series somehow made me think again about `honesty.`

Harry Houston "Bull" Alexander, pictured above (the nickname was well-earned) was a strong, broad-chested man and a pacy and combative right-arm bowler. He played only one Test for Australia, at the end of the Bodyline series, but his appearance was eventful. Alexander had first encountered Douglas Jardine, the England captain, when he played his second match for Victoria four years earlier. He took 4 for 98 against MCC but Jardine complained that he was running on the pitch and forced him to bowl round the wicket; Jardine scored 115.

No one had forgotten the incident when Alexander came to play for Australia. In the second innings, with England needing just 164 to win, Jardine again accused him of roughing up the pitch whereupon Alexander bowled bouncer after bouncer, scoring several direct hits. `A disgraceful exhibition,` droned Wisden. It was not bodyline bowling as such, as he did not have a packed leg-side field, but it was the nearest Australia had come to retaliation and the Sydney Hill roared with delight. It did not last long: England won easily and Alexander's match figures were 1 for 129 and 0 for 25.

In later years, he admitted that Jardine had `a ton of guts.` But he insisted: "It's part of a fast bowler's trade to give 'em a few in the ribs occasionally. Keeps 'em honest." Seems to be an Aussie characteristic, of which I heartily approve.