MCC Laws Revision — Roundarm Permitted to Shoulder Height, 1835

The 1828 roundarm law had been a hard-fought compromise; both Lillywhite and Broadbridge had been openly no-balled in the years before its passage. By 1834 the same problem had recurred at the new limit, and umpires were calling no-balls inconsistently because of the practical difficulty of judging the elbow line.

The 1834 season had seen several public disputes about hand height in important matches. Lord Frederick Beauclerk's faction lobbied for tighter enforcement; the practical men, led by William Ward at Lord's, argued for a higher legal limit.

The 1828 legalisation of roundarm at elbow height had been a compromise. Bowlers immediately pushed against the limit, and umpires struggled to judge whether the hand was an inch above or below the elbow at the moment of release. Lord Frederick Beauclerk, who had opposed roundarm altogether, argued for tighter enforcement; William Ward and the practical men at Lord's argued for the law to be widened to match the practice. The MCC committee debated the question through the early 1830s. At the annual general meeting on 19 May 1835 the new wording was adopted: 'The ball must be bowled; if it be thrown or jerked, or if the hand be above the shoulder in the delivery, the umpire must call No Ball.' This permitted what the trade had been calling 'high roundarm' — the hand at or just below shoulder height — and removed the difficulty of judging the elbow line. The change was practical and uncontroversial; most county bowlers had been bowling at the new permitted height for years. The law would stand until 1864, when the Willsher walk-off would force the next and final widening to overarm.

“The ball must be bowled; if it be thrown or jerked, or if the hand be above the shoulder in the delivery, the umpire must call No Ball.”

“The new law puts the matter beyond doubt and the umpires beyond temptation.”

The 1835 law stood unchanged for nearly thirty years. Bowlers within the new limit refined their actions; pace bowlers like Alfred Mynn used the freedom to bowl with greater speed and bounce. The next law change — to overarm — would come only in 1864 after a further public confrontation.