Douglas Jardine

Douglas Robert Jardine was a cricketer who played 22 Test matches for England. He captained 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. He died of lung cancer in 1958, aged 57, after a long career in banking and journalism.

About Douglas Jardine in brief

Summary Douglas JardineDouglas Robert Jardine was a cricketer who played 22 Test matches for England. He captained 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. He was well known for his dislike of Australian players and crowds and was unpopular in Australia, particularly for what was perceived to be an arrogant manner, and especially after the Bodyline tour. He died of lung cancer in 1958, aged 57, after a long career in banking and journalism. He also served in the Territorial Army in the Second World War and spent most of it posted in India. He is buried at St Andrews in Scotland, where he was born on 23 October 1900 in Bombay, British India, to Scottish parents, Malcolm and Alison Moir. He played cricket for Winchester College, attended the University of Oxford, and played for Surrey County Cricket Club as an amateur. As a schoolboy, he 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. He received coaching from Altham Wilson, Harry Rockley and Schofield Haigh, the latter two of whom were distinguished cricketers. In his final year at school, he came top of the batting averages with 997 runs in football, and was in the first eleven for three years from 1917 and 1918.

He later worked as a company secretary at a paper manufacturer and also returned to journalism. In 1957, he became ill with what proved to be lung cancer and died, age 57, in 1958. He was a qualified solicitor, but he did not work much in law, choosing instead to devote most of his working life to banking and, later on, journalism. His son, Peter, was also a barrister, and served as a judge at the High Court of Justice in London. He retired from all first-class cricket in 1934 following a tour to India. After the war, he worked as company secretary in India, and later on as a bank executive. He had a son, Paul, who was a successful businessman and a director of a bank in London, and a son-in-law, David, who worked in the finance industry. He never had any children, but was a keen cricket fan, and he was a cricket fan as well as being a cricket player. He developed a defensive method of batting which was unusual for an amateur, receiving occasional criticism for negative batting. Despite this, he 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. He led England in the next three cricket seasons and on two overseas tours, one of which was the Australian tour of 1932-33. He won nine, lost one and drew five.