Douglas Jardine

Douglas Robert Jardine was an English cricketer who played 22 Test matches for England, captaining the side in 15 of those matches between 1931 and 1934. A right-handed batsman, he is best known for captaining the English team during the 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia. During that series, England employed "Bodyline" tactics against the Australian batsmen, headed by Donald Bradman, wherein bowlers pitched the ball short on the line of leg stump to rise towards the bodies of the batsmen in a manner that most contemporary players and critics viewed as intimidatory and physically dangerous. As captain, Jardine was the person responsible for the implementation of Bodyline.

A controversial figure among cricketers, partially for what was perceived by some to be an arrogant and patrician manner, he was well known for his dislike of Australian players and crowds, and thus was unpopular in Australia, especially so after the Bodyline tour. However, many who played under his leadership regarded him as an excellent and dedicated captain. He was also famous in cricket circles for wearing a multi-coloured Harlequin cap.

Douglas Jardine was born on 23 October 1900 in Bombay, British India, to Scottish parents, Malcolm Jardine—a former first-class cricketer who became a barrister—and Alison Moir. At the age of nine, he was sent to St Andrews in Scotland to stay with his mother's sister. He attended Horris Hill School, near Newbury, Berkshire, from May 1910. There, Jardine was moderately successful academically, and from 1912, he played cricket for the school first eleven, enjoying success as a bowler and as a batsman. He led the team in his final year, and the team were unbeaten under his captaincy. As a schoolboy, Jardine was influenced by the writing of former England captain C. B. Fry on batting technique, which contradicted the advice of his coach at Horris Hill. The coach disapproved of Jardine's batting methods, but Jardine did not back down and quoted a book by Fry to support his viewpoint.

In 1914, Jardine entered Winchester College. At the time, life for pupils at Winchester was arduous and austere; discipline was harsh. Sport and exercise were vital parts of the school day. In Jardine's time, preparing the pupils for war was also important. According to Jardine's biographer, Christopher Douglas, the pupils were "taught to be honest, practical, impervious to physical pain, uncomplaining and civilised." All pupils were required to be academically competent and as such Jardine was able to get along satisfactorily without exhibiting academic brilliance; successful sportsmen, on the other hand, were revered. Jardine enjoyed a slightly better position than some pupils, already possessing a reputation as a very fine cricketer and excelling at other sports; he represented the school at football as a goalkeeper and rackets, and played Winchester College football. But it was at cricket that he particularly excelled. He was in the first eleven for three years from 1917 and received coaching from Harry Altham, Rockley Wilson and Schofield Haigh, the latter two of whom were distinguished cricketers. In 1919, his final year, Jardine came top of the school batting averages with 997 runs at an average of 66.46. He also became captain despite some doubts within the school about his ability to unify the team. Under Jardine, Winchester won their annual match against Eton College in 1919, a fixture in which Eton had usually held the upper hand. Jardine's batting (35 and 89 in the match) and captaincy were key factors in his side's first victory over Eton for 12 years. Years later, after his retirement from cricket, he named his 89 in that match as his personal favourite innings. Jardine went on to score 135 not out against Harrow School.

Jardine's achievements in the season were widely reported in the local and national press. He played two representative matches, for the best schoolboy cricketers, at Lord's Cricket Ground, scored 44, 91, 57 and 55 and won favourable reviews in the press. Wisden, in 1928, described Jardine at this time as being obviously of a much higher standard than his contemporaries, particularly in defence and on side batting. However, he was criticised for being occasionally too cautious and not using all the batting strokes of which he was capable—his good batting technique gave the impression that he could easily score more quickly if he so desired.

After establishing an early reputation as a prolific schoolboy batsman, Jardine played cricket for Winchester College, attended the University of Oxford, playing for its cricket team, and then played for Surrey County Cricket Club as an amateur. He developed a stubborn, defensive method of batting which was considered unusual for an amateur at the time, and he received occasional criticism for negative batting. Nonetheless, Jardine was selected in Test matches for the first time in 1928, and went on to play with some success in the Test series in Australia in 1928–29. Following this tour, his business commitments prevented him from playing as much cricket. However, in 1931, he was asked to captain England in a Test against New Zealand. Although there were some initial misgivings about his captaincy, Jardine led England in the next three cricket seasons and on two overseas tours, one of which was the Australian tour of 1932–33. Of his 15 Tests as captain, he won nine, drew five and lost only one. He retired from all first-class cricket in 1934 following a tour to India.

Although Jardine was a qualified solicitor he did not work much in law, choosing instead to devote most of his working life to banking and, later on, journalism. He joined the Territorial Army in the Second World War and spent most of it posted in India. After the war, he worked as company secretary at a paper manufacturer and also returned to journalism. 

While on a business trip in 1957, he became ill with what proved to be lung cancer and died, aged 57, on June 18, 1958.