1. Bill Voce was an English cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire and England.
17 Facts About Bill Voce
1. 2.
Bill Voce was born at Annesley Woodhouse, near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
3.
Bill Voce walked from Hucknall to Trent Bridge in the hope of a trial and his natural talent was quickly recognised.
4.
Bowling over the wicket, Bill Voce could perform both the inswinger and the outswinger.
5.
Bill Voce made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire against Gloucestershire in 1927.
6.
Bill Voce was selected for the English tour of the West Indies and made his Test debut in the first Test at Bridgetown, Barbados, on 11 January 1930.
7.
Bill Voce did not do particularly well as a pace bowler in 1930, but following Australia's tour of England in that summer, when Don Bradman scored freely against the English bowling, Voce was part of a meeting convened between the future English captain, Douglas Jardine, and Nottinghamshire captain, Arthur Carr, to come up with a tactic to defeat Bradman and the Australians.
8.
Bill Voce took 123 wickets for 19.29 each in 1931, and with 136 for 16.87 each in 1932, he was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1933.
9.
The bowlers implemented Jardine's tactic, bowling fast and short at the Australian batsmen, with Bill Voce inflicting several bruising injuries.
10.
The political fallout resulting from Bodyline ensured that Bill Voce, despite taking eight wickets against the Australians in 1934, was not chosen for any of the Tests, and before the 1935 season started, Bill Voce asked Marylebone Cricket Club not to choose him.
11.
However, in county cricket, Bill Voce was as good a bowler as ever, and may have taken over 150 wickets in both 1935 and 1936, but for faulty catching in the slips.
12.
England won by 322 runs, and Bill Voce again utilised a rain-affected pitch in the second Test with match figures of seven for 76, including three wickets in four balls.
13.
Bill Voce still finished with 26 wickets to be the leading bowler for the series.
14.
Bill Voce failed to reach 100 wickets in either season, and joined the armed forces during World War II.
15.
Bill Voce failed to take a Test wicket on the tour and played his last Test match against Australia at Melbourne in 1947, soon after which he announced his retirement from cricket to become county coach.
16.
Bill Voce played in twenty seven Tests, scoring 308 runs at an average of 13.39, and taking 98 wickets at an average of 27.88.
17.
Right up to his death in 1984 at the age of 74, Bill Voce was reluctant to discuss the Bodyline series, though it is known that he privately considered Bodyline to be wrong.