Bill Voce (8 August 1909 – 6 June 1984) was an English cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire and England. As a fast bowler, he was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline strategy in their tour of Australia in 1932–1933 under Douglas Jardine. He was born at Annesley Woodhouse, near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. He died at Lenton, Nottingham.
Early career
Voce came from a working-class background in the coal mining districts around Nottingham. In the late 1920s he was living in Hucknall, a colliery town. He walked from Hucknall to Trent Bridge in the hope of a trial and his natural talent was quickly recognised. In Voce's Daily Telegraph obituary, the writer E. W. Swanton recalled his "long, loose arm and natural flowing action". Bowling over the wicket, Voce could perform both the inswinger and the outswinger. Depending on the pitch conditions, he could switch from pace to slow-medium spin.
Voce made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire against Gloucestershire in 1927. A few good performances saw him keep his place despite the strength and variety of Nottinghamshire's bowling. At this stage, he was a classical left-arm spinner and some critics viewed him as a successor to Colin Blythe. Thus, when he changed to a faster pace the following year there was a good deal of criticism, but, in 1929, Voce returned to his slower style with great success in a number of games on sticky wickets, notably against Northamptonshire when he took fourteen wickets for 43 runs.
International selection
He 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. However, the hard wicket encouraged him to move to a faster style, and he had so much success that he persisted with the faster method when he returned to England, except on wet pitches. He 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. Voce, and his fellow Nottinghamshire fast bowler, Harold Larwood, agreed to a suggestion by Jardine that bowling fast rising balls into the batsmen's bodies, with several catching fielders on the leg side would be an effective tactic.
Over the next two years, Voce and Larwood practised this modified form of leg theory for Nottinghamshire, causing severe problems for opposing batsmen. Although Voce was somewhat slower than Larwood, his line, from left-arm over the wicket, and the steeper bounce that he obtained from his height, made him formidable enough and the batsmen got no relief when facing him. Whilst his classic action remained, he had none of the venom of old, was overweight and medium-paced, and in a controversial umpiring decision Bradman was given not out after being caught for 28 off his bowling in the First Test. 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.