Bodyline Casualty by Gavin Gleeson

To say former Australia Test wicket-keeper Bert Oldfield lived an extraordinary life would be an understatement: incarcerated in a dungeon in Egypt, working in a venereal disease clinic, surviving a bomb blast which killed his comrades in the First World War, defying overwhelming odds to wear the Baggy Green to become his country’s premier gloveman, being one of the first to discover a young Don Bradman; getting his skull fractured in the flashpoint of the controversial Bodyline series, touring through Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on the eve of global conflict, enlisting again to serve his country throughout the Second World War…and save a lion from death row with half-an-hour to spare…Oldfield did it all. Bodyline Casualty – the Bert Oldfield Story will explore previously unknown details of his war service, his part in the Bodyline series, his role in the development of women’s cricket, his kind gesture to England captain Douglas Jardine, his testy relationship with Don Bradman and friendship with former combatant England fast bowler Harold Larwood as well as

how the knocks he sustained on the battlefield and the cricket field may have contributed to his eventual death.

About the Author: Born in Sydney in 1973, Gavin Gleeson attended his first Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground at the age of nine. A cadet radio journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Alice Springs, he went on to become the host of a Territory-wide night program on ABC Darwin in the mid-1990s. After working as a spokesman for the Northern Territory Police he returned to his home state to serve as a NSW Police Officer and child protection case worker. He currently works with youth and adult offenders. Gavin has three adult children with his wife Katrina, the couple live on the NSW South Coast. This is his first book.

01 Aug 2025
 

Bodyline Casualty: The Bert Oldfield Story by Gavin Gleeson ISBN 9781761099243