ABSTRACT
No cricket event, not even the infamous underarm bowling incident against New Zealand, has caused more controversy or become such an important part of Australian social history and popular culture as Bodyline.1 Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the series continues to mark cricket relations between England and Australia and to define what is and is not ‘cricket’ in the minds of supporters in those countries. Bodyline combined at a unique historical juncture almost all of the competing social texts which came together to ‘constitute’ cricket-nationalism, imperialism, legal formalism, the spirit of the game, racism, class-conflict, rhetorical disputes over language, physical violence and the conflict of strong individual personalities shaped by each of these elements.
