 In essence , the lbw law remained the same between 1839 and 1937 , despite several campaigns to have it changed . An 1863 proposal to allow a batsman to be lbw if the ball hit his body at any point between the wickets , regardless of where the ball pitched or whether it would hit the wicket at all , came to nothing . There were few complaints until the proportion of lbw dismissals in county cricket began to increase during the 1880s . Until then , batsmen used their pads only to protect their legs ; their use for any other purposes was considered <unk> , and some amateur cricketers did not wear them at all . As cricket became more organised and competitive , some batsmen began to use their pads as a second line of defence : they lined them up with the ball so that if they missed with the bat , the ball struck the pad instead of the wicket . Some players took this further ; if the delivery was not an easy one from which to score runs , they attempted no shot and allowed the ball to bounce safely off their pads . Arthur Shrewsbury was the first prominent player to use such methods , and others followed . Criticism of this practice was heightened by the increased quality and reliability of cricket pitches , which made batting easier , led to higher scores and created a perceived imbalance in the game . 
