Umpiring in the 1946–47 Ashes series out. One English pressman wrote that this was Bodyline, to the anger of Vic Richardson, Alan Kippax and Clarrie Grimmett who had seen the real thing. Clif Cary wrote that "the placements were sufficient to cause the batsmen worry, although they did not justify one journalist describing the attack as "bodyline" to lend colour and expression to his cable". The England bowler Bill Voce and the reporter Bill Bowes did not comment on the matter, but Harold Larwood said that Bodyline was less dangerous as the batsman knew what to expect - bouncers on the leg-stump - but here they
Wisden Cricketers of the Century two of their five votes would be wasted, as they would almost certainly be cast for Bradman and Sobers. The editor of "Wisden" at the time, Matthew Engel, wrote that the only real deficiency of the list was the absence of a fast bowler in the top five places. Fast bowlers dominated cricket from the 1970s until at least the mid-1990s, and the most famous pre-war test series, Bodyline, aroused controversy because of England's fast bowling strategy designed to counter Bradman. The Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee was joint sixth in the overall list, selected by 19 of the panellists.